THE HAGUE: The International Court of Justice ruled Friday in favour of Singapore in a 28-year sovereignty dispute with Malaysia over the tiny, uninhabited island of Pulau Batu Puteh.
"The court, by 12 votes to four, finds that sovereignty... belongs to the Republic of Singapore," Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh said, reading out the ruling. - AFP
MOSCOW: Manchester United were crowned kings of Europe for the third time on Wednesday when they beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a breathless all-English Champions League final had finished 1-1 after extra time.
United’s 37-year-old goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, appearing in his third final 13 years after his first with Ajax Amsterdam, saved the decisive spot-kick from substitute Nicolas Anelka.
The victory completed a famous double for the Old Trafford team who pipped Chelsea to the English Premier League title 10 days ago.
It was an emotional triumph for United, coming 50 years after the Munich air disaster, and there was a huge cheer for one of the survivors, Bobby Charlton, when he joined the team at the presentation of the trophy he lifted in 1968 before Alex Ferguson led the team to a second success in 1999.
Malaysia’s Economy Growth Rate
| Year | GDP growth |
| 2006 | 5.9% |
| 2007 | 6.3% |
| 2008 (estimated) | 5 - 6% |
INTRODUCTION
Global growth was strong and driven by above-trend growth in most industries economies and buoyant growth in emerging market economies, despite moderation in the US economy, higher oil prices and the onset of financial market turbulence.
The Malaysian economy continued its strong growth momentum. Growth was driven by robust domestic demand despite a weaker external environment. Robust domestic demand was driven mainly by strong expansion in private sector activities.
1. Strategies to enhance the economy growth rate:
a. Promote the 5 economic corridors in a clearer way; let the SME and foreigners understand the incentives and opportunities in these areas.
b. Increase the activity to lobby for more FDI into Malaysia by MITI.
c. Encourage private spending by business communities. Development projects to be driven by Business community rather than by government.
d. Increase the activities and incentives in the agricultural sector to promote self sufficient of food as a way to decrease the import of food (expensive price internationally now).
2. If the economy goes in GOOD conditions:
a. The Malaysian economy is expected to remain on a steady growth path, expanding by 5 - 6% in 2008, supported by resilient domestic demand.
b. The emergence of domestic demand and public spending from robust services sector.
c. Malaysia’s export market increasingly diversified, to all over the world.
d. Malaysia is commodity producer, will continue to benefit from high prices of crude oil, palm oil and rubber.
3. If the economy goes in BAD conditions:
a. Economy slowdown in US will affect Malaysia in consumer and business sentiments.
b. Private consumption and private investment or FDI to Malaysia will slow down.
c. Higher inflation rate and low-medium income family will get affected.
d. Manufacturing sector will slowdown, causing lower export and further worker retrenchment.
e. Government will have to enhance their policy to counter economy slowdown, such as: adjust monetary system and increase fiscal incentives to all business communities.
f. Subsidy must be given to the right people (poor and hardcore poor family) with a good system to elevate their daily living difficulties.
4. How to enhance the economy cake:
a. Push for open tender system in all government projects and services. We want an efficient system to encourage the business community to compete equally.
b. More representatives for all ethnic in all working level of civil services.
c. Cut down the 30% bumiputra restriction for foreign and local investment in Malaysia as this will restrict the foreigner to invest in Malaysia because it is not business friendly. We hope that there will be more liberalization in the business environment.
ALOR STAR: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and veteran party man Tan Sri Sanusi Junid announced Monday that they are quitting Umno.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced this on Monday at 12.35pm, citing a lack of confidence in the current leadership.
"I am quitting Umno today," he told about 1,000 people, mostly Kedah Umno members, at a talk here on Monday.
"I will write a letter to Umno headquarters to inform that I have quit the party," he said.
He has been critical of his appointed successor Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, blaming the current Umno president for the party's disappointing performance in the 12th general election.
The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, of which Umno is the largest component party, won the March 8 election with a simple majority, and saw four more states join Kelantan under Opposition rule.
Dr Mahathir urged other party members to quit too, as a way of pressuring Abdullah into vacating his post.
However, he advised those who do quit not to join any opposition party, adding they can all rejoin the party once there is a change in leadership.
Abdullah has so far refused all calls for him to step down, and said he would defend his presidency in the party polls in December.
Sanusi, who is a former Kedah Mentri Besar, also quit the party on Monday.
PM Abdullah: Shocked
Meanwhile, Abdullah said he was shocked by the decision and, despite their differences, had not expected him to leave.
However, the beleaguered premier said he would stay on and fight for the party.
“Perhaps some other members might leave too, but this won’t entirely affect the party. It all depends on whether the rest want to stay on and continue to fight for the party too,” he said.
Umno Deputy President Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak expressed his shock and sadness too.
Najib, who read a prepared statement to Malaysian reporters at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, said he was prepared to meet Dr Mahathir to discuss his decision.
"I will also discuss with Datuk Seri Abdullah, whom I had contacted just now, on efforts to strengthen Umno and also the issue of leadership transition in the party.
"I hope all Umno members will stay calm and give support to our efforts to strengthen the party," he added.
In KLANG: Former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said Dr Mahathir’s decision will affect public perception of Umno’s strength and possibly discourage youngsters from joining the party.
Many of those aged below 40 years grew up during Dr Mahathir’s premiership and hold him in high regard.
“Dr Mahathir’s resignation will have a huge impact on the trust that this group of people, including the Malays, have in Umno and its capability to lead the country,” he said.
He said youngsters wanting to join the party now might also shy away as questions would be raised on Umno’s ability to be effective as a party.
“These youngsters might not join other parties but they will stay away until Umno can mend the current situation and avoid splits in the party,” he said.
（吉打‧亞羅士打）前首相敦馬哈迪今日（週一，19日）說，他已率先退黨，其他黨員有權利自己去決定是否跟隨其做法。如果他們愛黨，可以選擇退黨表達不滿，向黨施壓，如果他們覺得還是需要支持阿都拉，那也是他們的權利。
詢及他帶動黨員退黨對巫統造成的衝擊，馬哈迪表示如果馬來人懂得糾正錯誤，而不止是表面退黨，巫統是不會消失的。
他表示，巫統是一個成立62年的政黨，他到全國各地會見黨員後，覺得巫統不再是一個民主的政黨。如果馬來人真正的要維護黨，他們應該要作出決定。
詢及退黨是否直接向阿都拉施壓時，馬哈迪說：“這個人不能明白人家做甚麼的，今天我宣佈退黨，是因為我叫黨員們這樣做展示勇氣，那麼我自己也要展示勇氣，我可能不能叫人去爬世界最高的山或一個去航海環遊世界後，自己也有能力這麼做，但退黨的事情我有勇氣以身作則。”
硬行動面對風險
退黨不成功便成仁
馬哈迪說，每一個強硬行動背後都可能會面對不能成功的風險，甚至面對內安法令、煽動法令罪名而被逮捕。
因此，他認為巫統黨員響應退黨的呼籲，可能也會面對不能成功而成仁的後果。但如不這麼做，下一代的前途沒有希望。
他說，作為醫生他瞭解到如果腳已經發臭，就應該鋸掉，以保全身體不使發臭。
強硬方式救黨
因此，他呼吁如果巫統黨員愛護黨，就要使黨復活，黨員都需要用強硬的方式來救黨。
“有人說黨員不可革除黨主席，但是想看是誰委任黨主席？誰一出生就是黨主席？”
他說，任何黨員，不要只關注個人利益，如果是為民族鬥爭，即使沒有出任首相、區部主席、支部主席，甚至中央代表都不是問題。
馬哈迪相信自己即使退黨後，不再是黨員，仍會在到處演講時吸引到巫統黨員來捧場。
他說，如果黨員只關注私利，那麼下一代未來將會抨擊他們沒有維護馬來人的利益。
馬哈迪：要控就控吧
針對林甘短片，他是被調查的6人之一，馬哈迪說，如果他們要把他控上法庭，就控上吧！但是如果他沒有罪，人們就不要來逮捕他。
他說，首相兼巫統主席拿督斯里阿都拉向美國、新加坡、興權會，甚至律師公會屈服，但他唯獨不向馬來人屈服。
他說，阿都拉明白自己是弱勢領袖，因此他必須向各方屈服，包括向律師公會主席安美嘉屈服，讓人們去調查及逮捕前首相（馬哈迪）。
不能對特定一個人效忠
馬哈迪說，雖然有黨員已致函阿都拉要求關注黨員的不滿，但阿都拉仍在“繼續睡覺”，並在輸了5個州政權和聯邦直轄區，以及失去三分之二議席後，仍強調國陣勝利。
他譏諷阿都拉表現如此差勁，卻仍不肯下台。
他說，如果黨員傳達給阿都拉的訊息，阿都拉還不明白，那麼黨員就應該以更強硬的方式來採取行動，馬來人不能對特定的一個人效忠。
他以巫統過去的領袖具有君子風度為例，指當年成立巫統的拿督翁惹化、帶領國家向英國人爭取獨立的東姑阿都拉曼都曾經對國家作出貢獻，但當他們發現黨內有不滿的聲音希望他們下台時，他們都會自願退位，不會繼續強調自己勝利。
馬哈迪說，即使在1999年全國大選發生“黑眼圈事件”，一些人轉而投向反對黨，但國陣仍取得三分二多數議席。即使吉打州失去8國席12州議席，但仍維持州內三分二議席政權。
“當時的吉打大臣丹斯里沙努西為了失去8個國會議席而辭職，也是看到了黨員的不滿而自動退位。”
2002年聽到不滿聲音退位
他表示本身在2002年自動宣佈退位，也是因為聽到了不滿的聲音。
“領袖不能像瞎眼耳聾般，不肯接受事實。”
馬哈迪說，吉打州4名中選的國陣國會議員中，沒有任何人被委任為內閣部長，令人質疑吉打是否沒有人才。
巫統退黨議員若不加入
民盟無法執政中央
馬哈迪說，巫統議員選擇退黨後，不跳槽民盟，民盟仍不能成立中央政府。
詢及一些巫統國州議員退黨後，是否會造成屬於國陣的國州議席懸空，導致民盟有機可乘成立政府時，馬哈迪認為只要這些退黨者不加入反對黨，那麼民盟就必須自己去尋求更多議席來組織政府，巫統黨員退黨就不會成全民盟成立政府的意願。
他說，退黨者在國會裡可投首相阿都拉不信任票，但他不認為反對黨會投阿都拉不信任票，因為反對黨會希望阿都拉能繼續領導，以讓他們有機可乘，確保反對黨可在大選中勝利。
詢及他呼吁一些支部主席退黨，以及一些國會議員退黨是否會獲得響應時，他表示不知道。
“一些人曾在我居高位時奉承我，但後來卻在我指責阿都拉的領導方式時，排擠我。”
以身作則犧牲自己
“我履行以身作則退黨的決定，我願意犧牲我自己，只要以黨的利益為重。”
他呼吁支部、區部主席們勇敢站出來退黨，因為他覺得個人的利益並不重要。
“即使失去各級職位、中央代表資格，都要提起勇氣面對。”
(The Star & Sin Chew)
4th MobileMonday Global
Date : 19 May 2008
Time : 8.30am -6.30pm
Venue : Hall 3, KLCC
Organised for the first time outside the founding city of
This 4th annual Global Summit will bring together mobile industry visionaries and developers. MoMo, a global community of over 70,000 mobile industry visionaries and developers has generated genuine business alliances through cooperative relationships with mobile operators globally. The MoMo Global Summit will also consist of the Global Peer Awards ceremony. This time around, there will be three categories, early stage companies, emerging companies (founded from 2005 onwards) and academia (university students).
MobileMonday Global Summit 2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is a interactive conference experience, promises to explore future developments and provide valuable insights into the hottest topics surrounding mobile games, music, multimedia, messaging, TV, advertising and marketing. The conference will cover the latest business models and strategies from content owners, content aggregators, operators, agencies and technology companies focused on consumer content.
This is the place where learning is shared through dialogue, relationships are forged, partnerships are formed and most importantly, business is made! It will be 2008's most important meeting for industry players eyeing the rich potential in the Asian mobile content space. Networking events including conference refreshments and lunches, cocktail reception and the conference wrap-up party provide the ideal opportunity for sponsors, speakers and delegates to meet and network informally.
Through innovation, new products, services and applications are created, which in turn, results in the creation and growth of businesses and enterprises. Recognizing its undisputable importance as a catalyst for the global economy, innovation has been identified as one of the global impact issues at WCIT 2008 and at the MobileMonday Global Summit 2008.
Today
For those interested to attend they can register by sending their contact information to 2008momokl@gmail.com and they can get updates at our website http://www.globalsummit.mobilemonday.com.my or call Rani Wemel at +60192070510 (MobileMonday
The move would help maintain the retail price of rice and alleviate the burden of consumers.
The decision was made by the Cabinet Committee on Inflation yesterday. The committee also decided to implement five action plans to counter the rising price of rice and padi in the country.
Ceiling price for Super Special Tempatan 5% (with 5% content of broken grains), and Super Special Tempatan 10% at RM2.80 and RM2.70 respectively effective June 1, 2008.
The guaranteed minimum price (GMP) increased from RM650 per tonne to RM750 per tonne.
There is no shortage (of locally-produced rice) but we are importing to make sure we have a stockpile. About 70% of our rice is locally produced. The move to allow inter-state transportation of rice was to further free up the market and get rid of what was an antiquated system.| Malaysian Workforce Time Series | ||||||||||
| (In million) | ||||||||||
| Sector | Year | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| |||||
| Manufacturing | workforce | 3.133 | 3.244 | 3.343 |
| |||||
| | % growth | 5.4 | 3.5 | 3 |
| |||||
| Agriculture | workforce | 1.401 | 1.392 | 1.378 |
| |||||
| | % growth | -0.4 | -0.6 | -1.1 |
| |||||
| Civil Service | workforce | 1.053 | 1.064 | 1.085 |
| |||||
| | % growth | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| |||||
| Finance, Business | workforce | 0.734 | 0.771 | 0.791 |
| |||||
| | % growth | 5.7 | 5 | 2.6 |
| |||||
| Construction | workforce | 0.76 | 0.755 | 0.766 |
| |||||
| | % growth | -1 | -0.6 | 1.5 |
| |||||
| Transportation | workforce | 0.63 | 0.646 | 0.662 |
| |||||
| | % growth | 6.1 | 2.5 | 2.4 |
| |||||
| Mining | workforce | 42.7k | 42.6k | 42.9k |
| |||||
| (in thousand) | % growth | 0.2 | -0.3 | 0.7 |
| |||||
| Others Service | workforce | 3.138 | 3.234 | 3.334 |
| |||||
| | % growth | 6.6 | 3.4 | 2.8 |
| |||||
LONDON: Manchester United retained the Premier League title yesterday when they won 2-0 at Wigan Athletic and Chelsea were held 1-1 at home by Bolton Wanderers.
It was the old and new faces of United who combined to secure the victory as Cristiano Ronaldo put them on their way with a 33rd-minute penalty and Ryan Giggs, on the day he equalled Bobby Charlton's club record 758th appearance, completed the win 10 minutes from time.
United ended the season on 87 points, two clear of Chelsea, who were leading through Andriy Shevchenko until Bolton grabbed an injury-time equaliser.
It was United's 10th Premier League title and 17th championship in all – one short of Liverpool's record – and they will now go for a domestic and European double when they face Chelsea in the Champions League final on May 21.
(www.thestar.com.my and www.yahoo.com)
SOME of my friends are grumbling about the recent increases in food prices. Nasi lemak, capati and teh tarik are costing more these days. Inflation, inflation, inflation, they muttered - how could inflation be two per cent, they questioned, referring to the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) provided by the Department of Statistics.
Before you know it, they start making guesstimates of what the real inflation rate is in the country. Blame it on us economists. We are the ones who never make people understand what we mean by "inflation" when we talk to the public. Economists are a group of people who speak like people from Mars. When we say "current account", we mean current account of a country's balance of payments and not the current account balance that you have in your personal bank.
When we say gross domestic product or GDP, we normally mean the value of a country's output after it is adjusted for inflation. Well, at a time when inflation is becoming such a hot topic in this country, it would be helpful if we could speak a layman language so as to make it easier for people to understand. Let me try. When people talk about inflation, they normally refer to price increases of the goods that they normally purchase. These would include prices of milk, eggs, fish, bread, rice and even costs of different types of services like haircut, transport and so forth.
Some of the prices of these products and services have arguably increased quite significantly in the past one year due to high transport cost (as a result of an increase in fuel prices) and commodity prices. So when prices of the products they normally buy rise by say, 10 per cent, they think inflation rate should also be at least 10 per cent. That's not how economists see things when it comes to inflation. The inflation rate - which is essentially derived from the changes in the CPI - is derived the following way. First, pick up a basket of goods and services that a typical family would spend their income on.
For Malaysians, this would mean food items like rice, bread, eggs and some other basic foodstuff as well as other common services that they have to pay for like transport and communication. Note that this basket should theoretically be based on the current spending habits of a typical family in Malaysia. It must not be confined only to a particular class of the population. In fact, it should reflect the general taste of the population. Second, put proper weightage, say 30 per cent on food items and 10 per cent on transport - meaning that 30 per cent of our expenses goes to food and 10 percent goes for transport cost. Then value that basket of goods and services over time and see their changes.
Okay, this is where a major problem arises. How in the world can we construct a basket that represents every family's expenses? What my family consumes is definitely different from what your family spends on. To add to that, should there be a significant income disparity between two families, the difference in consumption pattern will become more prominent. Rich people who spend more on imported products for example may not feel the impact of "inflation" if only prices of local goods rise. Lower income people who consume say, more fish than poultry may imagine that inflation is skyrocketing if prices of fish suddenly escalated. But for those who hardly purchase any fish, they do not feel such a phenomenon.
So what this means is that when an individual starts complaining about inflation, he normally refers to price increases in his own basket of goods and services - the things that they normally purchase over time. Not surprisingly, each person can have his own inflation rate which differs significantly from the inflation figure that economists normally say in newspapers or on television. Economists only refer to a general price increase of the basket of goods that is being used by the Department of Statistics, a basket that supposedly represents goods and services purchased by a typical family in Malaysia.
So should we just chuck this thing called CPI out of the window? Maybe not. Firstly, it is the least we can do to gauge the trend of prices in the economy. Other countries are doing the same thing using the CPI, although some countries like the US prefer to use other measures called the core personal consumption deflator. There is also a similar gauge called the GDP deflator. While it will be too lengthy to elaborate on these two alternative measures, the important point to note is that these so-called "deflators" do not measure prices based on any specific basket.
They are based on the actual goods and services that we purchase over a period. They are sometimes referred to as changing weight price indexes that cover all goods and services in the economy. Notwithstanding their usefulness, however, these measures have their own drawbacks, on which I do not wish to elaborate in this article. Secondly, using CPI, we can dig up more details about price trends because different breakdowns are given by the Department of Statistics. For instance, prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages have generally risen by 4.5 per cent in February this year, compared with 2.3 per cent in June last year. Other notable increases are alcoholic beverages and tobacco where prices climbed by nine per cent in February, compared with 4.7 per cent in the middle of last year.
But one important tip for consumers - it is advisable to look at trends rather than absolute numbers in order to get a feel of where price pressures are coming from. So, don't grumble when you hear economists say inflation rate is only two per cent. They are not pulling your leg. They are just referring to the increase in the value of the basket which is being used by the Department of Statistics. Admittedly, it will never be a perfect basket but it is the best that we have to reflect a typical consumption pattern of the population.
The writer is the chief economist at Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd.
