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Petronas barrels in record RM96b profit as oil prices soar

Anil Netto
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10

Petronas has posted a record profit before tax of RM96 billion, a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.

Its turnover rose 21 per cent to RM223 billion ringgit for the financial year ended 31 March 2008. Revenue from international operations made up 40 per cent of the total figure.

The results were released about 15 days later than in the past five years, when they were out by 30 June. The record profit for Petronas comes at a time when many Malaysians are struggling to cope with a 41 per cent hike in the retail petrol price and its inflationary impact.

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Undersea cable cost for jinxed Bakun doubles to RM15b

Anil Netto
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16

I have always believed that the Bakun Dam has been jinxed, ever since the developers messed with the ancestral lands of the indigenous people and displaced them from the site.

Now we are witnessing a re-run of the scandal involving the second Penang bridge, which we might not even need in the first place. The figures are almost identical – except that for the Bakun Dam, the cost of the undersea cables is quoted in US dollars instead of ringgit.

In the case of the second Penang Bridge, the estimated cost has soared from RM2.7 to close to RM5 billion in a year or so.

In the case of the Bakun undersea cables, according to an Edge report, the cost of the cables has soared from US$2.5 billion (RM8 billion) to US$4.7 billion (RM15 billion), which is the figure quoted by a consortium led by Sumitomo.

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MV Agusta sold for 1 euro; Harley buys it for US$109m

Anil Netto
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32

I think Proton has some explaining to do. It sold MV Augusta for 1 euro after buying it for RM368 million. Now look at this – AP reports on 11 July the following:

Harley-Davidson Inc. said Friday it will buy Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta Group for about $109 million to boost its presence in Europe, giving it entry into the popular performance bike market there.

And here’s a report from Bernama a couple of years ago.

Proton Defends Sale Of MV Agusta

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 (Bernama) — In what appears to be an unending saga, Proton Holdings Bhd has again come out in defence of its sale of financially-troubled MV Agusta, reiterating that there were no synergies between the motorcycle maker and Proton as a car maker.

Describing continued criticisms over the sale and change in management announced by Proton in July 2005 as “uninformed speculation”, the national car company said there was “a refusal among some to acknowledge explanations provided earlier”.

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Foreign spies in Malaysia?

Anil Netto
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17

Apparently there have been people in the country gathering information for foreign security or surveillance agencies. Nine peoople are being detained under the ISA for “mengumpul maklumat untuk agensi perisikan/keselamatan asing“.

That’s a major news story, don’t you think? So why are most people unaware of these “spies”? Were these arrests reported in any of our mainstream media?

According to the “Menteri Dalam Negeri”, the nine are part of 68 ISA detainees at the end of April 2008. These people have been detained without trial. The Minister was responding to a question in Parliament from Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli, the MP for Kuala Krai.

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85% of motorists ready to switch to buses and trams

Anil Netto
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20

Photo by Henk Graalman, Adelaide

Trams in Adelaide, the “twin city” of George Town, Penang Photo credit: lightrailnow.org

It looks as if a huge majority (85 per cent) of urban motorists in Malaysia are ready to leave their cars behind at home if there is an effective and integrated public transport system comprising buses and trams. That is the outcome of a just concluded poll of 551 visitors to this site.

The main reason I put out this poll is that I wanted to allay the fears of those who are worried that dedicated bus and tram lanes may cause road congestion for motorists. The results confirm what many of us may have already guessed: many motorists are ready to abandon their cars in favour of buses and trams. So why are we still talking about new urban highway projects, ring roads, and other infrastructure for more cars?

Here are the poll results:

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Abdullah buys more time with 2010 handover deadline

Anil Netto
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22

It looks as if Abdullah Badawi has bought himself a little more time with this new handover deadline – he wants to hand over power to Najib in June 2010. Remember, before this latest development, many analysts were predicting that Abdullah’s shelf life would expire by December.

The PM probably knows that a lot of things could happen in two years which could jeopardise Najib’s chances of taking over. Najib’s ‘baggage’ could weigh down heavily on him in the coming months. His prospects have already dimmed somewhat after the allegations linking him to the Altantuya case surfaced last week. If a week is a long time in politics, two years is an eternity.

Najib is in no position to argue. He probably figures he needs a couple of years anyway to recover from all the negative publicity – so 2010 would now suit him nicely.

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38% of households struggling to make ends meet

Anil Netto
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21

According to the latest household income survey, the following are the percentages of families in the various monthly household income brackets.

Household monthly
Percentage
income range
of families



< RM 1000
8.6



RM 1001 – 2000
29.4



RM 2001 – 3000
19.8



RM 3001 – 4000
12.9



RM 4001 – 5000
8.6



RM 5001 – 10,000
15.8



> RM 10,000
4.9





100.0
Source: Figures presented by Senator Amirsham A Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, in response to a query in Parliament by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, MP for Sungai Siput
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World Heritage listing: Some words of caution

Anil Netto
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6

Following Unesco’s recognition of George Town and Malacca as world heritage sites, LW wrote these important words of caution, which I thought I should highlight:

I just hope, though, that this listing will actually bring about more context sensitive and local-culture-based modes of development in Penang and Melaka that are sustainable in the long term – not speculative and profiteering projects that will only earn quick cheap dollars from tourists but suck the life out of the cities.

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George Town, Malacca now Unesco World Heritage sites

Anil Netto
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27

Armenian Street in George Town, which has the largest collection of pre-war houses – over 12,000 in all – in South-East Asia. Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Stadhuys Square in Malacca Photo credit: Wikipedia


Rua das Flores (Flowers Street), the main street in Curitiba, Brazil, has been a pedestrian avenue since 1972. Penang Road and other streets of George Town could be turned into pedestrian malls, serviced by buses and trams. Photo credit: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=377289

The historical Straits Settlement cities of George Town and Malacca have just been classified as Unesco World Heritage sites.

“The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia,” said the citation on the Unesco Heritage list website.

This comes as a major boost to the lack-lustre economies of these two states.

The new status is the result of a 11-year-long struggle. “It has been a touch and go affair until the last minute,” said heritage conservationist Loh-Lim Lin Lee, when contacted.

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Gloomy outlook for Malaysian economy

Anil Netto
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27

Today I was chatting with someone who owns a few stationery shops in Penang and I was told that “business is down” because prices have gone up. Later in the evening I chatted with the cashier at a petrol station and he told me that sales volume was down.

So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we are in for some gloomy times ahead especially with a global economic slowdown expected in the second half of the year.

I culled the following from various analyst reports on Malaysia:

  • Global economic slowdown 2H 2008
  • Slowdown in Malaysian exports to US and UK (esp electronics)‏
  • Trade surplus will narrow
  • High commodity prices support palm oil, oil exports
  • Fiscal deficit could soar to 5% of GDP in 2008-2009
  • Possible fiscal pump-priming
  • RM1.5 billion to subsidise rice farmers
  • More imports of rice from Thailand
  • Delay in large infrastructure projects
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