Subsidy Rationalisation Measures

Folks,

I know this is a bit late to post of subsidy rationalization measure, but it is better than never, right?

Alright.

Both countries, Malaysia and Indonesia, have embarked on subsidy rationalisation measure.

As for Malaysia, the government has moved to set the prices of petrol and diesel from automatic pricing mechanism to a managed-float system.

According to Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek, the petrol and diesel prices will be reviewed monthly, in which the average cost of petroleum products from the previous month will be used as reference in determining the price for the following month.

The result of the managed-float implementation had seen the current price of petrol drops by 35 sen for petrol and 30 sen for diesel.

It is worth noting that the World Bank had in its latest “Malaysia Economic Monitor” report said that the removal of fuel subsidies will help the government to save an estimated of between RM10 billion and 12 billion in 2015.
You can view the press release – in Malay – here (in PDF), and also below.




As for Indonesia, its president – Joko Widodo (Jokowi) – came under fire from its own citizens for raising the price of fuel.

But I think he is taking a good step to reform subsidy measures, and let the market forces dictate the price. Reform in Indonesia, as well as in Malaysia, is progressing, albeit at relatively steady (or slow?) pace.

Let's read the article reported by the Wall Street Journal below.

I have converted it to the PDF version, here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Friday-Sunday edition, Jan 2-4, 2015

Happy 57th Merdeka!

Folks,

Happy Malaysia's independence day.

Today, or rather yesterdary (August 31), mark the 57th anniversary of Malaysia's independence from the British rule.

The independence day in Malaysia is known as "Hari Merdeka".

This year, the theme is "Malaysia, disini lahirnya sebuah cinta", or in English, it means "Malaysia, where love grows".

The theme is rather interesting. I mean, it is certainly better than the previous Merdeka theme of "janji ditepati" or "promises delivered".

The theme back then was just ridiculous. The government, with all due respect, is not in position to claim that all promises has been delivered.

Luckily, this year's theme is one that is romantic and nostalgic. Malaysia, the boleh-land, is indeed where my love is.

Having lived abroad, there is no other place compared to Malaysia. At least, that is my personal opinion.

Anyway, this auspicious day should be the day we liberate ourself from all negativities and bad thoughts.

We should set our mind free from being conquered by evil ideas.

We should embrace each other like families.

After all, we are Malaysians.

Happy Merdeka to every Malaysians!

Monkey Parliament

Folks,

There is an English phrase -- "kangaroo court" that is aimed at the judges and justices for their own misconduct in their very own court of law; and now, I want to coin a new phrase: "monkey parliament" -- referring to the conduct of our Members of Parliament (MPs) in the august house.

The image below was forwarded to me last night.

Funny thing is that the image is making such a pun to the politicians in our parliament, specifically YB Mr Bung Mokthar Radin of Kinabatangan constituency, in East Malaysia.

Of course this is a doctored image.

In the original image, he is seen as ripping-off parliamentary motion belonging to YB Mrs Fuziah Salleh from Kuantan on deducting the salary of PM advisors, which according to her is exorbitantly high.

Her motion was dismissed.

But his act caused a stir to the point that the netizens are doctoring the image published by the media!

His act was in response to YB Fuziah's early action of ripping-off parliamentary papers.

Well, I guess that:-

1. It serves YB Fuziah right, and
2. The image is indeed a funny one, revealing the conduct of our MPs in the parliament.

Anyway, the image is truly -- to borrow today's adjective -- epic!

What with the flying banana and leaves! :)

God save us all Malaysians!

Friends,

There is a very interesting article in the paper today, written by one Mr Yap Ming Hui, a local financial planner.

The article is about his personal commentary on the recent Budget 2014 announcement made by the Prime Minister, Dato'  Sri Najib Razak some weeks ago.

The  length of the article is about a page long and in it contain a very interesting story of a man (presumably) not being thankful to the God in all the helps that the God had sent to him.

Mr Yap aptly said that while the budget has its own benefits and advantages, we -- the people of Malaysia -- should not be too engrossed and impacted by all the negatives in the budget.

We should also at the same time be optimistic in seeing the benefits that the budget may have.

Mr Yap further went on to rant how we should adapt with situation that was announced by PM Najib, and he also described the loser and the winner of Budget 2014.

The loser, according to Mr Yap, is one who "choose to ignore the good measures in the budget that they can benefit from"; while the real winner has the "attitude [that] makes them win no matter how tough the environment is" -- emphasis in bracket is mine.

How so true, Mr Yap!

The story presented by Mr Yap is one that is timely as it reminds all of us to be positive when in the negatives.

I am sure that Mr Yap's parable in justifying the budget as announced by the Prime Minister will be heavily criticized by the detractors; but let the man be entitled to his own view.

I personally find the allegory to be rather interesting even though I have my own views on the budget announced by the PM weeks ago.

--
Image source: Yap Ming Hui, "Benefits in Budget 2014", The Star (StarBiz - page 22), Saturday, 16 Nov 2013.

GST and Our Economy

All,

Recently, our Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a very unpopular move of introducing Goods and Services Tax (GST) in our country in his budget speech, which is scheduled to be implemented nation-wide beginning 1 April 2015.

There are many noises and brouhahas coming from two sides of the political divide - the right and the left wing.

However the noise may sound, I am all for GST. I will not argue much on why we need GST, but I will say only this - however unpopular it is, we need them to save our economy. Our ailing debt that is ballooningly high.

Let's be real: our debt-to-GDP ratio is speculated to hit 54.8% by year end, and some sort of measures must be taken to reduce thia percentage.

While GST is NOT the only measure it will nevertheless increase government's coffers in terms of revenue. That should at the very least, reduce our public debts.

Of course there are many other economic theories that could justify to support GST, but I am not economist. I don't intend to be one, but I leave it to the expert to explain it to the rakyat (citizens) on why we need a GST.

The introductory rate of 6% is fair to me, although I was hoping that it should be 1% lesser. But nevertheless, it is an experiment, and it is the duty of the government to explain on the many benefits that can be reaped from introducing this GST system in our country.

Many economists and practitioners have written and argued for the case of GST. It is a necessity and any delay will only affect our economy.

GST is introduced to broaden our country's revenue and the same time -- hopefully -- will reduce our public debts.

Below is one such good article that defends the need for GST in Malaysia. It is an excellent article written in a very simple language for all the layman to understand.

On the other hand, the present government must also implment some other measures to reduce excessive leakages in our public finance system.

The first two steps to be taken are:-
(a) address all queries and issues in the latest Auditor-General's report, and
(b) introduce few economic initiatives to transform our public expenditure and finance systems.

This is my two cent's worth of unqualified economic opinions.

Image source: The Edge Weekly, Issue #987, Nov. 4th - 10th., Page 59.

GST and Our Economy

All,

Recently, our Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a very unpopular move of introducing Goods and Services Tax (GST) in our country in his budget speech, which is scheduled to be implemented nation-wide beginning 1 April 2013.

There are many noises and brouhahas coming from two sides of the political divide - the right and the left wing.

However the noise may sound, I am all for GST. I will not argue much on why we need GST, but I will say only this - however unpopular it is, we need them to save our economy. Our ailing debt that is ballooningly high.

Let's be real: our debt-to-GDP ratio is speculated to hit 54.8% by year end, and some sort of measures must be taken to reduce thia percentage.

While GST is NOT the only measure it will nevertheless increase government's coffers in terms of revenue. That should at the very least, reduce our public debts.

Of course there are many other economic theories that could justify to support GST, but I am not economist. I don't intend to be one, but I leave it to the expert to explain it to the rakyat (citizens) on why we need a GST.

The introductory rate of 6% is fair to me, although I was hoping that it should be 1% lesser. But nevertheless, it is an experiment, and it is the duty of the government to explain on the many benefits that can be reaped from introducing this GST system in our country.

Many economists and practitioners have written and argued for the case of GST. It is a necessity and any delay will only affect our economy.

GST is introduced to broaden our country's revenue and the same time -- hopefully -- will reduce our public debts.

Below is one such good article that defends the need for GST in Malaysia. It is an excellent article written in a very simple language for all the layman to understand.

On the other hand, the present government must also implment some other measures to reduce excessive leakages in our public finance system.

The first two steps to be taken are:-
(a) address all queries and issues in the latest Auditor-General's report, and
(b) introduce few economic initiatives to transform our public expenditure and finance systems.

This is my two cent's worth of unqualified economic opinions.

Image source: The Edge Weekly, Issue #987, Nov. 4th - 10th., Page 59.

Focus Malaysia - Taib Family Inc

Peeps,

Sorry that I haven't been able to post few things for the last couple of days. Been busy with reading and other things.

This week's issue of Focus Malaysia has an exclusive coverage on the Chief Minister of Sarawak, The Honourable Tan Sri Taib Mahmud.

He is the longest serving Chief Minister in Malaysia, probably in the world too.

This week's issue talks about him and his family business; how he and his family develop and expand their business empire not only in Sarawak, but also Peninsular Malaysia and even overseas.

It is estimated that the combined Taib family's fortune is worth astounding RM 50 billion. Whether that is the actual truth or not, well, I leave it to Tan Sri to answer this, and of course Focus Malaysia should be held accountable if the facts and figures are wrong.

I wonder what Tan Sri Taib has to say about this. This is certainly an undercover issue.

One that is brave and has yet to face some consequence.

Get a copy of it, fast!

30 Overpaid Directors

Everyone,

Today is Sunday. My paper day. And also my clothes-washing day. Well, that would be later -- i've got loads of clothes to wash.

This week's 25th edition of Focus Malaysia, one of the emerging business newspapers with the tagline "business analysed" talks about 30 overpaid directors of public listed companies.

In a way, this edition is a name-and-shame issue, where famous highest corporate executives are being publicly scrutinized for getting lion's share of director remunerations.

Some of the directors took home no.less than RM 1 million a year. And these are directors of the public listed companies.

Logic had it that since they sit in the public listed companies, then their remunerations should also be made public.

Get the issue yourself and read on!