Comment posted on Oil wealth: Blessing or curse? by K S Ong
The article has more credibility coming from Tengku Razaleigh, the original architect of Petronas.
To my simple mind, the story is similar to some irresponsible children inheriting wealth and just squander on status symbols and patronizing high-end entertainment outlets. Where the current expenditure exceeds current income, it is only a matter of time before the capital will be finished.
Recent comments by K S Ong
- Looking beyond Jho Low
From Wynton Group’s site, words like ‘networking’, ‘movers and shakers’, and ‘symbiotic’ point towards favouritism, cronyism and …
Other than ‘know who’, I don’t think it has anything which other similar outfits cannot provide, but that’s the reality of business where to maximize profits, ‘the end justifies the means’.It is all about opportunism – opportunities and opportunists.
- Taib: “Most successful CM since Independence”
(Could) money … have made the difference(?)It is a well known fact that British universities are always running on tight budgets.
We have seen how APCO did wonders for our PM. What else is impossible?
- Botanic Garden fiasco: Who was responsible?
Perhaps we should consider principle of ‘subsidiarity’ which will never see the light of day so long as BN is in charge of Federal Government. According to Wikipedia:Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, cybernetics, management, military (Mission Command) and, metaphorically, in the distribution of software module responsibilities in object-oriented programming (according to the Information expert design guideline). Subsidiarity is, ideally or in principle, one of the features of federalism, where it asserts the rights of the parts over the whole.
The word subsidiarity is derived from the Latin word subsidiarius and was first described formally in Catholic social teaching (see Subsidiarity (Catholicism)).[1] The concept or principle is found in several constitutions around the world (for example, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which asserts States rights).
It is presently best known as a fundamental principle of European Union law. According to this principle, the EU may only act (i.e. make laws) where action of individual countries is insufficient. The principle was established in the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht[2]. However, at the local level it was already a key element of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, an instrument of the Council of Europe promulgated in 1985 (see Article 4, Paragraph 3 of the Charter) (which states that the exercise of public responsibilities should be decentralised). Subsidiarity is similar in concept to, but should not be confused with Margin of appreciation.
- Drop in Felda reserves: Make accounts public
I see a parallel in Felda and Petronas in terms of being cash rich and profitable, which made it possible to perpetuate intentional extravagance and wastages which benefited certain people at the expense of the rest.It is too simplistic to take the cash position in one year and that of a later year and take the difference as depletion of cash. As Husam has mentioned, there were profits during those years which should be accounted for when working this out.
End of the day, I can foresee it boiled down to unwise or intentional decisions to profit certain individuals. Procurement department is the most gainful because it can be so easily abused. Just the decision to have Menara Felda (might) have earned someone Rm6.47 million in commission at only 1%. This is likely to be more under the circumstances! TTDI is now under Naza, so this is already a cosy arrangement.
Down in the plantations, leakages are so likely that it would have been a wonder not to find any. Yes, comparison with other big plantation companies would help as a guide, but it does not help in identifying whether each local plantation is run most efficiently. For its huge size, even purchases of fertilizers and weed-killers, maintenance of roads within, and so on, are huge in terms of expenditure and therefore open to abuse.
Occasionally, when I used the old trunk road, I passed Felda, Trolak and I used to wonder at the necessity for the Great Wall (which stands out like a sore thumb) which is actually one kilometre in length! This seems petty cash to Felda after what has been disclosed!
- Raub gold mining: Who owns the company?
I am amused by the name Tai Yeow Kam because it sounds in Cantonese, almost like ‘Bring available gold’, though ‘tai’ can also sound to mean ‘big’.This is a light-hearted observation because in Chinese, a word especially Romanized, can be pronounced differently and mean up to 7 different things! Moreover, at a guess, the name could be Anglicized from original Kam Tai Yeow and he is probably Kam Woon Wah’s son!
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It runs out in 14+ years and we become a net oil importer in 2-3 years. I haven’t factored in the new Iraqi contracts with Shell but I’m pretty sure it came with a price.
http://romerz.blogspot.com/2009/08/malaysias-oil-1426-years-left.html
Anyway Malaysians, be prepared for the worst heading our way, with less subsidies and the inevitable GST which will only tax the poor more!
Stop being complacent and “bark up the wrong tree’. What we see today will be gone in a flash unless we can come together and make things right by making the right choices!
Ask yourself this simple question. UMNO/BN is fighting for its political life now. Why would they even talk of removing subsidies and introducing GST which would turn ordinary Malaysians against them if the country is not broke and in trouble?
The truth is the country is broke and we allowed it to happen!!!
Anil, did you hear about the Eurobonds? To go this way means that our country is flat broke. Please do some research on this subject and I will help you.
Thanks, Romerz, would appreciate any info you have on this.
Many people with the right brain already knew in many years ago that oil money is supporting Malaysia from sinking.
Malaysia total debts is 336 billion.(I found this figure from the Bank Negara’s website.)
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are oil importing countries, still they can keep their accounts in black.
I do not want to be racist, but I have to stress that (the Chinese) do not spend money like no tomorrow as our UMNO-led Malay government.
As an Indonesian minister said it right, “God is blessing Indonesia (and also Malaysia) with a plenty of natural resources, but her people themselves destroy the resources.” This is a self-destruction, Malaysia blames no one but themselves for wasting and draining out oil money.
Dear Anil,
Have you heard? Latest screw up in Penang…LOL
1. It seems there is a chap name S… was (allegedly) involved in a SCAM in 2005.
2. He scam not businessman but teenagers!
3. Link to The Star Report
http://tinyurl.com/yccfcuw
What are you talking about, the news report is about a flying school operator scam in Seremban.
Is this one more disinformation crony?
What has this got do with Penang?
Actually, she included some bits of information/websites links allegedly linking him to a Pakatan party/a state government, which I omitted as I could not verify the information.
And what has this got to do with the current subject
Hi Anil,
1. I understand why you have to truncated more than half of my comments but I hope once you have gather all the evidences, could you please show the entire comment back.
cheers.
ps : Check his FB account …
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000214804270&ref=nf#/profile.php?id=1116120558&ref=mf
Bro,
More pics …
1. Picture of Shannon …
http://tinypic.com/r/14s8lu/6
2. Picture of Shannon…
http://tinypic.com/r/2vs53k0/6
3. Picture of Shannon…
http://tinypic.com/r/t8905x/6
hearing this from the mouth of UMNO makes me wanna puke.
it’s like “my younglings, we are now delivering you a broken country. please start your work to clean up our mess. meanwhile, we will continue the lootings.”
he has no right to say those words. he’s telling me what 90% of my generation already know. it’s what he is doing about it that i want to hear.
I disagreed with T.R. Oil is not a curse. The curse is … M and his gang….
Unfortunately the (plunder) continues… If Malaysia has no BN robbers, we will still be better than Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea with ZERO oil and gas.
The article has more credibility coming from Tengku Razaleigh, the original architect of Petronas.
To my simple mind, the story is similar to some irresponsible children inheriting wealth and just squander on status symbols and patronizing high-end entertainment outlets. Where the current expenditure exceeds current income, it is only a matter of time before the capital will be finished.
The whims and fancy of whoever ran the country. Now I wonder who that could be. Credibility. Are you serious? Doesn’t seem like it’s coming from the mouth of babes to me. Try sourcing the archives of the “virgin” Star, pre-1987.
“WEALTH IS THE ROOT TO ALL EVILS…..”
YOU WILL WITNESS A “DOG EATS DOG’ SCENARIO!
Oil wealth = Blessing
But,
UMNO/BN greed + corruption + incompetence = CURSE!
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
Well resources must always be considered scarce and used rationally especially natural resources that will run out someday.
Nothing can be done now, it is like crying over spill milk or my favourite saying, bullet has left the gun, no point regretting now. But since there are many more bullets left, maybe we can save some of these. And the key is GE13
Most important asset for a country is the brain power. Even Malay with the right brain also emigrated to USA, my ex-Malay lady boss is one of them.
The oil was a blessing. It is having the likes of Dr. M as our leaders that is the curse.
All through the 70s, 80s and 90s, all the countries in ASEAN except the Philippines, enjoyed tremendous economic progress.
Malaysia would also have progressed, if not more, with or without Dr. M. The often crediting of Dr. M with the modernisation of the country is a load of rubbish.
If anything, (his administration, during which corruption flourished) actually held back our progress with his racists policies with the above unemployable graduates being one of his legacies.
It is sad but true. I can hardly find a profitable “company” in Malaysia. One of all the “best companies” is MRCB and shocking finding is that the company hardly making any profit.
Monopoly companies like SYABAS (Selangor Water work) and TNB are heading into difficulty and want to increase tariff. Many people “fall sick” to get a good service in SYABAS or TNB. The attitude of their staff is terrible.
So, what we can expect from the distribution of the wealth?
I think the management of the nation’s wealth should be by a reliable and qualify person.
What is Fatimah trying to say here. ?! Please write up your own allegations in your own blog as we could not read your mind.
On Petronas, it is bleeding money and did well in Iraq. The other GLCs are much worst. the bailout of water concession company by PAAB will give millions to cronies for their mismanagement.
amoker,
1. the reason you dont understand is because Anil have truncated the comments.
2. give anil some time to investigate the claims i put forth.
3. once he has done his investigation i am sure he will show the entire comments and you and the rest will understand it better
cheers
A blessing to UMNO elites and curse to the rakyat…..
oil a national resource has not gone to the people…only to a handful “Ketuanan Melayu”.Inflation doubled and wages stay stagnant! Surely this cannot be a blessing!
Hi Anil
Did you see this?
http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/46533-najibs-budget-passed-by-a-narrow-66-63-vote
indeed the oil has been a dreadful curse compounded by ketuanan melayu which specializes in being frivolous.
What a blunder, a scam 2005, an interlude in the middle of 336b debts,economics downfall etc etc. Here she come with the ultimate story for the world to know and the kind of gimmick for them to worry most, all the time, a reflections of their own forgotten, well hidden scams. A scrab from a crony mentality……we can get it from the MSM.
It runs in 14 + years and ps we will become a net importer of oil in 2-3 years: Check the FB account …
Face it, there is no such thing as an oil-cursed politicians, oil-cursed governments or oil cursed policymakers, on the contrary they are all most often shining examples of oil blessings… there are only oil-cursed citizens.
http://www.bit.ly/P4m