My Say

How could this happen? The most shocking fact is the disclosure that “the board was not aware that the MVAM minority shareholders had veto powers and hindered most of Proton’s efforts to turn around the company.”
The board should be jointly responsible for this fiasco. They cannot plea ignorance. It’s the job of every board member to ask questions. That’s what they’re paid to do. Not merely to attend meetings. How can such a basic fact be overlooked? This whole episode really cast doubt on the competence of the boards of directors of Malaysian companies. It’s time the minority shareholders demand that only competent professionals be appointed to the board.

He must have a really big and clear crystal ball to be able to make this prediction. Most people can’t even see a month ahead, let alone 4-5 years. But then this is nothing new, as some economists are known to change their minds a few times in the course of a single day

Maybe he’s just trying to curry some favours.

The deputy Prime Minister is not happy with the token reduction in prices announced by the car manufacturers/dealers so far, in view of the substantially decrease in duties announced by te government . Read here. I can’t imagine the manufacturers/dealers being pleased about this additional pressure, but I feel no symphaty for them, as they have been increasing the car prices, using every possible excuse such as exchange rates. But they’ve never decreased the prices, even though the Malaysian Ringgit has strengthened by more than 3% in the last 6 months or so. As a result, these car companies have been making millions of ringgit every year, despite their insistence that competition in the Malaysian market is getting more intense. In most other countries, the prices of cars have actually been decreasing with every new model launched.

Let’s hope that with the DPM’s comments, the car prices will finally come down.

For those who never knew how much tax charged by the Government and profit made by the ‘middlemen’ on their cars should read this. It’s indeed shocking to learn how cheap the cars in Malaysia could be without any form of tax.

Unbelievable. In this day and age, there are still people waiting to be fed, literally. Read this for yourself. Will they ever grow up? They probably think it’s their birthright for the government to feed them? No wonder the government has to reduce the fuel subsidy. There are more and more mouths to feed! Who says that Malaysia is not a welfare state?

I can’t believe their reaction. The government is proposing that all the domestic routes (currently also served by MAS) are taken over by AirAsia. The reaction of the Members of Parliament (MP) beggars belief. If this is the sort of response by the MPs, then the government may as well forget about the whole rationalisation plan for domestic flights. The constant worry about ‘foreigners’ taking over Malaysian companies will simply make Malaysia unattractive from the foreign investors’ point of view. Who wants to invest when they don’t have any say over how the companies are run?

Will the launch of this diesel really make any difference? With only a 5% palm oil content, I do not think it will make the fuel significantly cheaper or more environmentally friendly. This fuel and the grand launch by the PM is more hype than anything else, to me. I hope that the researchers will not rest on their laurels. The aim should be to completely replace fossil fuel with renewable fuel from plants like the oil palm. But given the more than 20 years gestation period for this to happen, I’m not optimistic that I will witness this in my lifetime.

Please accept my qualified congratulations. Well done.

Maybe the British have something against the French (the Savvy is based on the Renault Clio), but whatever it is, reviews like these won’t do Proton any favours. Proton should concentrate on the Aussie market, as they seem to appreciate the Savvy, with reviews like this and this.

Looks like Proton Savvy is destined not to succeed in Britain.

Here he goes again. The deputy PM coming out with guns blazing, denying that the number of drug addicts in Malaysia is as high as 1 million. Read here. Of course he’s on the defensive, if the numbers are anywhere near as high as 1 million, it would seem that he has not been doing his job as the chairman of the Cabinet committee to combat drug addiction.

But he should have given more careful thought before bursting out like that. How could he know that the number is ‘far below’ 1 million? Is he God? What is his definition of a ‘drug addict’, anyway? Maybe it doesn’t include the occasional users? Of course no one can refute him, as there is no way for anyone to know the exact number. Whatever the case, he should not be so quick to dismiss the report, without offering further proof of his assertion.

I’m pleasantly surprised that the government is considering other means to turn Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) around, rather than just opting for the easy route of increasing the electricity tariff. Read here for the proposed ‘power exchange’. Most people know that one of the main reasons that TNB is making losses is the expensive power they are ‘forced’ to purchase from Independent Power Producers (IPP). The licence to operate these IPPs were given to ‘cronies’. These IPPs are hugely profitable, generating the shareholders billions of ringgit in profit and cash. It would have been grossly unfair to burden the people with an increase in tariff while the owners of these IPPs continue to milk their cash cows!