China, US to build cooperative relations

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As China and the U.S. conclude their second round of Strategic and Economic Dialogue, bilateral ties are back on track. After months of tensions between the two, China and the US are seeking ways of building positive and cooperative relations under long term strategies.

The China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue has come at a time of strained relations between the two sides.

Last December, the US and some western countries blamed China for the Copenhagen Conference failing to reach a tougher consensus on climate change.

Trade and economics are also causing disputes.

From punitive tariffs on Chinese tires and steel pipes, to an anti-dumping probe into American auto part exports, a tit-for-tat dispute is being waged across the Pacific.

On the issue of RMB exchange rate, China is resisting US pressure to appreciate its currency.

Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama and US arms sales to Taiwan received a strong backlash from China.

Professor Yuan Peng of Inst. of Contemporary Int'l Relations, said, "One of the key reasons for the tensions in the past year is that China and the US haven't got used to the new situation between the two. China is growing confident yet the US is losing ground to some extent. The old mechanism between the two needs to be adjusted."

Despite the global financial crisis, the Chinese economy grew by 8.7 per cent in 2009.

With the Greek debt crisis hanging over Europe, the world economic recovery remains fragile.

Analysts say China and US relations require a long term plan to deal with many problems.

"Bilateral relations between China and the US involves many global issues. The global financial crisis hasn't gone. The fight against climate change and the regional and global security issues all require cooperation between China and the US. The two sides should face up to the differences between them and develop a long term strategy in dealing with global challenges." Said Yuan Peng.

China and the US have become inter-dependent to a striking extent.

Analysts say although the future of bilateral relations could be complicated, the best way to face challenges is to stand together.

China-US S&ED attracts US media attention

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The China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue is making headlines in the US. The talks made the front page of the Monday edition of all major newspapers and their websites.

An article posted on the Wall Street Journal website says the American public has welcomed the speech by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the opening ceremony. It says the two sides will proactively overcome their differences without harming ties. The US delegation has already made it clear that they will not pressure China on the issue of exchange rate of the yuan.

The website of the New York Times published a report that hails the significance of the dialogue in strengthening the relationship between two of the world's biggest economic powers. But a list of problems is waiting to be solved by Beijing and Washington to achieve a mutually beneficial solution.

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Penang's capital is eighth most liveable city in Asia, on par with KL and Bangkok

George Town is living it all up

GEORGE TOWN: The state capital has moved up a notch to become the eighth most liveable city in Asia in an international survey involving 254 cities.

The survey, which was carried out by ECA International, now puts George Town on par with Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

In a press release posted on its website www.eca-international.com, the survey also ranks Singapore as Asia's most liveable city for the 11th consecutive year.

Three cities in Japan - Kobe, Yokohama and Tokyo - occupy the second, third and fourth placings.
Hong Kong is in fifth place, followed by Taipei and Macau.

The rating for the cities was based on an analysis of living standards, including climate, health services, housing and utilities, social network, leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety, political tension and air quality.

ECA International regional director for Asia Lee Quane also said the least liveable cities in Asia were Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan, Pyongyang in North Korea and Kabul in Afghanistan.

George Town also moved up a spot in the ranking for the world's most liveable cities at 62nd place.

Five Asian cities made it to the top 10 in the global ranking as the best places for Asians to live in - Singapore (1st), Kobe (3rd), Yokohama (4th), Tokyo (5th) and Hong Kong (8th).

ECA International is a membership organisation for international human resources professionals. It serves a global network of over 4,000 human resource professionals in 71 countries.

By TAN SIN CHOW
sctan@thestar.com.my

Malaysia among most competitive nations

It has benefited from strong demand in Asia and efficient policies

FOR the first time since Malaysia participated in the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) study by the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD) since 1999, the country has been ranked one of the top 10 most competitive nations among 58 economies.

Malaysia achieved an index score of 87.228 compared with 77.162 in the previous year. This has propelled us to 10th place from 18th place last year. The country has benefited from strong demand in Asia and the implementation of efficient government policies.

The top 10 countries and their respective scores are shown in Table 1.

Malaysia has overtaken several developed countries such as Denmark, 13th (2009: 5th), the Netherlands, 12th (2009: 10th) and Luxembourg which was ranked 11th (2009: 12th).

Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed

 

Malaysia continues to be ahead of Britain, ranked 22nd position (2009: 21st), South Korea 23rd position (2009: 27th) and Thailand 26th (2009: 26th).

Higher Confidence

The improvements have been largely due to the performance of both the statistical and perception data. This reflects the strong fundamentals in the Malaysian economy as well as a positive change in perception among respondents.

The rakyat’s higher confidence level is testimony that the people-friendly initiatives as depicted in the “One Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” have been successful.

Malaysia’s performance according to the four competitiveness factors showed that the country recorded remarkable improvement in rankings for government efficiency at 9th position (2009: 19th) and business efficiency at 4th (2009: 13th). The economic performance and the infrastructure factors improved to 8th (2009: 9th) and 25th (2009: 26th) respectively. (See Table 2)

Initiatives

Since the last quarter of 2009, the economy has been growing at a faster pace than expected. This was due to a combination of government spending, lower inflation rate and accommodative monetary policy that helped boost domestic demand.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, higher than the expected 3.2%. The growth momentum continued into the first quarter this year with gross exports rising by 30.7%, contributing to GDP growth of 10.1%.

Malaysia’s export recorded a new high for the month of March this year. This registered a significant growth of 36.4% year-on-year. Given the robust performance and the government’s economic initiatives, Malaysia is expected to achieve its target of 6% growth this year.

Besides the surge in exports, there was a marked improvement in private spending. Automotive sales surged 25% year-on-year in March to 56,139 units up from 44,896 units in the same month last year. Recent high-value investments by foreign companies are indicative of investor confidence on Malaysia.

Coca-Cola is investing RM1bil in a bottling plant and Hong Kong-based Sun Bear Solar Ltd is spending RM5.2bil in a solar glass-manufacturing plant.

For the first time since Malaysia participated in the WCY, both the government efficiency and business efficiency factors achieved remarkable top 10 rankings. This indicates a clear link between public and private sector engagement, which has resulted in a change in the way both sectors regard and work with each other.

Since the establishment of Pemudah (Government’s Special Task Force to Facilitate Business) in February 2007, which was aimed at enhancing transparency and streamlining processes and procedures, tangible results have been evident.

This ease of doing business in Malaysia has impacted positively on the rankings for government efficiency and business efficiency input factors.

For instance, the number of start-up days in Malaysia, an indicator of the ease of doing business, has improved. Currently, the number of start-up days is three compared with 11 previously. The aim is to further improve this to one day.

Continuous Government reforms have also resulted in improvement in several national key areas:

Street crime has dropped by 32% in the first quarter of 2010.

The number of hardcore families listed in the eKasih system has reduced to 32,271 from 44,643.

The perception on bribing and corruption has improved in ranking to 26 from 31 last year.

Bureaucracy in business activity has improved to 4th place from 16th previously.

The New Key Economic Activities, as outlined in the New Economic Model, are expected to further accelerate Malaysia’s economic transformation.

Infrastructure was ranked 25th (2009: 26th). The investment on the country’s infrastructure is for the long term. Hence, this will only show results over time. In 2001, Malaysia’s infrastructure was ranked at 38th position. This has improved over the years to 25th in this latest study.

The report also indicated that the innovative capacity of firms in generating new products and processes is high, with a ranking of 12, despite this being a new criteria.

This is in line with our emphasis on innovation and creativity to achieve quantum-leap growth. The declaration of 2010 as the Innovation Year has been an impetus towards this end.

In addition, the National Broadband Initiative is expected to further narrow the digital divide between the rural and urban areas.

Forging Ahead

Although Malaysia is now among the top 10 nations, we need to strive to maintain this achievement. This is important if we are to achieve high-income status by 2020.

Malaysia has the following challenges:

To continuously improve government delivery system to facilitate business

To strengthen the economy through high quality investment

To groom small and medium-sized enterprises for global competition

To continue to intensify life-long learning and nurture talented workforce; and

To drive productivity and competitiveness through a creative and innovative mindset.

By DATUK SERI MUSTAPA MOHAMED 

Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed is International Trade and Industry Minister.

Football Internet Gaming Losses

19-year-old boy lost RM8 million in high-stakes gambling within three years

Written by Stephanie Liew   

At the tender age of 16, this millionaire's son was addicted to high-stakes gambling. By the time he celebrates his 19th birthday, the teenager has lost RM8 million. According to a local daily, the boy was merely following his father's footsteps and got addicted to foreign football betting on the Internet.

He was even nicknamed Little Dragon for the gambling addiction. When he was growing up, the father often spends time to gamble and thus, the boy was only copying his father's footsteps. When gambling agents offered him a credit of RM100,000, he jumped at the chance to begin football betting over the Internet.

He never learned his lesson as the father would help to settle the debt whenever the boy is in trouble. Within the three years he was addicted to high-stakes gambling, the father had bailed him out a couple of times.

Only when the boy lost RM8 million within the three years, the father decided to stop his son's addiction and told him to withdraw from an Australian degree programme at a college in Petaling Jaya. He is currently working for the father.

There were times when the boy used the tuition fees given to settle the debts. Loan sharks would appear at his doorstep if he failed to settle the debts. Upon learning on the youth's gambling addiction, Klang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo convinced him to come forward and share his experiences with the public.

But the boy refused to reveal his identity. Teh concluded that part of the problem lies in the gambling agents who hunted for rich kids. They would go all out to seek for teenagers from rich families in high-end colleges.

Teen's $3.4m losses

A boy who went into high-stakes gambling at the age of 16 accumulated losses amounting to about RM8 million (S$3.4 million) by the time he was 19. --ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN

PORT KLANG - A BOY who went into high-stakes gambling at the age of 16 accumulated losses amounting to about RM8 million (S$3.4 million) by the time he was 19.

The boy, a millionaire's son, had allegedly followed in his father's footsteps by gambling and ended up losing millions in foreign football bets over the Internet. His compulsion for betting was so great that he came to be known as the Little Dragon.

On Monday, Klang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo, who was unable to coax the teenager to come forward to relate his gambling spree, said the youth's gambling habit stemmed from his father, a compulsive gambler.

'This teenager grew up watching his father gamble and at the age of 16, he began to gamble after gambling agents gave him a credit line of RM100,000. Each time he was buried in debt, his father would bail him out. 
Over these three years, there have been several bail-outs,' he said. Datuk Teh added when the accumulated losses came to RM8 million, it was the last straw for the father. The man, in his 50s, barred him from gambling and stopped his son from attending college. He now works with his father.

According to Datuk Teh, the teenager who was pursuing an Australian degree programme at a college in Petaling Jaya had on several occasions used college fees to settle his debts and extend his credit line. He would lie to his father that college fees needed to be paid and use the money to pay the gambling agents. On occasions when he could not settle the debt, the agents would send loansharks to collect from the father. Datuk Teh said gambling agents were the culprits who went after teenagers from rich families.

'Most times, these agents would go to 'high-end colleges' and look for these rich kids. ' Datuk Teh added that Pandamaran New Village had become a hot place for such gambling and simple wooden houses were equipped with Internet facilities for the activity. -- THE STAR/ANN

Boy's RM8mil gambling losses  
 By EDWARD R. HENRY Edward@thestar.com.my 

PORT KLANG: A boy who went into high-stakes gambling at the age of 16 accumulated losses amounting to about RM8mil by the time he was 19.

The boy, a millionaire’s son, had allegedly followed in his father’s footsteps by gambling and ended up losing millions in foreign football bets over the Internet.

His compulsion for betting was so great that he came to be known as the Little Dragon.
Yesterday, Klang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo (pic) who was unable to coax the teenager to come forward to relate his gambling spree, said the youth’s gambling habit stemmed from his father, a compulsive gambler.

“This teenager grew up watching his father gamble and at the age of 16, he began to gamble after gambling agents gave him a credit line of RM100,000. Each time he was buried in debt, his father would bail him out. Over these three years, there have been several bail-outs,” he said.

Teh added when the accumulated losses came to RM8mil, it was the last straw for the father. The man, in his 50s, barred him from gambling and stopped his son from attending college. He now works with his father.
According to Teh, the teenager who was pursuing an Australian degree programme at a college in Petaling Jaya had on several occasions used college fees to settle his debts and extend his credit line.

He would lie to his father that college fees needed to be paid and use the money to pay the gambling agents.
On occasions when he could not settle the debt, the agents would send Ah Long to collect from the father.
Teh said gambling agents were the culprits who went after teenagers from rich families.

“Most times, these agents would go to ‘high-end colleges’ and look for these rich kids. ”

Teh added that Pandamaran New Village had become a hot place for such gambling and simple wooden houses were equipped with Internet facilities for the activity.

On Sunday, Klang and Kapar MCA held an “Anti-Gambling at Internet Cafes” signature campaign at the Taman Eng Ann morning market. It got more than 2,000 signatures from parents in two hours.

Klang OCPD Asst Comm Moha-mad Mat Yusop urged the public to provide information on gambling dens that existed in Internet cafes so swift action can be taken.

Attracting the young to invest in M'sian stock market

BURSA Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff and his senior team came over for lunch at The Star recently.

Among other things, they were wondering how to get the young generation excited over the stock market and whether, instead of the usual birthday presents, parents should give their children shares instead.

I was reminded that at a recent roundtable discussion with StarBizWeek, Yusli had lamented that 15 to 20 years ago, Malaysia was one of the most exciting emerging markets in the world and many investors wanted to trade here.

“But now, we’re like a little boy with so many taller guys around us, hence the need for us to shout louder and to jump higher just to get investors’ attention,” he said.

So, if getting investors’ attention is a problem, what more getting the attention of the young?
At this point, I suggested that Bursa should add some razzmatazz to the event that heralds a company going public.

If you want someone who is fiddling with his iPhone on one hand and updating his FaceBook on another to get excited over what is going on at the exchange, the image of a man in a suit hitting a gong is about the last thing he would be interested in.

When Marvel became the first comic book company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991, the Wall Street Journal announced: Spider-Man is coming to Wall Street.

The event was in turn promoted with an actor in a Spider-Man costume accompanying Stan Lee to the Stock Exchange. Cool! And what about the role played by parents to get their children interested in the exchange?

Yusli suggested that parents could buy shares as a form of investment for their children. That is a good idea, especially if the shares are solid blue chips and the companies also represent values that are appropriate.

According to a recent report, if you had invested in 1,000 Public Bank shares when it went public in 1967, you would have been a multi-millionaire by now based on the share price and dividends received over the years.

Imagine, if you had given those shares to your new-born child as a gift, he would be so grateful to you for making him so rich at a relatively young age.

In the United States, this is commonplace because there are many companies there that are familiar to children.

Apart from Marvel, companies like Disney, McDonald’s and Nintendo connect to the children because their products are all over the place.

In the United States, you can open up a custodial investment account in your child’s name and he or she can select companies they have an interest in, and with your guidance they can invest in and become owners of these companies.

You can also buy stock as a gift whereby actual stock certificate from the company you choose comes beautifully framed and engraved for your little shareholder.

But with everything going scripless these days, we no longer get certificates of our shares, so how do we do this here?

The next question to ask would be, what are the children-friendly stocks on Bursa?

So the real challenge for Bursa is still to ensure that there are enough companies on the exchange that will appeal to Gen Y and beyond.

Otherwise, in terms of retail investors, it will still have to be content with retirees and housewives with plenty of cash and time on their hands.

Monday Starters - By Soo Ewe Jin

Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin appreciates that besides shares, there are many creative gift ideas, like an online voucher or a prepaid stay at a beach resort, that we can give to our loved ones. For latest Bursa Malaysia indices, charts and other information click here

Glaring cultural differences

Malaysians will never be rude to a Datuk or a Tan Sri because they choose the people to bully.
I arrived back in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 11. I hadn't been too certain whether I would even get on my flight from Dublin on account of record snowfalls (the worst in Europe in 30 years) and icy runways.

Straight back into 30-degree heat in my snow boots, thermal knickers and winter coat was a bit of a shock to my system.

After the initial unpleasant jolt and the necessary adaptation into a more tropic-friendly ensemble, I got straight back into the flow of the climate here.

A lot like the initial culture shock of settling back into life in Malaysia - and in both cases, at times, I find myself in a fractious mood as a result of cultural and climatic differences.

The weather is easy enough to deal with, what with non-stop air-conditioning being the norm here.
As for everything else that annoyed me, I didn't really notice it initially as I was too busy eating my way around Malaysia.

From roti canai in Cameron Highlands to Sarawak laksa in Kuching, I was just far too caught up with stuffing my face to notice much else but the plate of food in front of me.

It was only after my digestive system started giving out about all the food additives I was ingesting that I had to start paying attention to other little details of Malaysian life.

I have a long list of pet hates (which gets longer as the days go by). For a start, we're just a rude nation.
We're rude to family, friends and neighbours. We're rude to maids, security guards and supermarket cashiers.
We are not, however, rude to Datuks, Tan Sris and their spouses. We know our place in the pecking order, you see.

We are rude when we drive, when we park and when we engage with others in commercial transactions.
When it comes to small and medium- sized businesses, there is no such thing as customer service in Malaysia.

Large multinational corporations have the money to send their staff for training and as a result, they're just a lot easier to deal with than small businesses which seem to think that they're doing you a favour by taking your money off you to provide service for you.

I have lost count of the number of times I've handed my money over to people who have just been plain rude.
It was only when one day, as a result of a particularly nasty heat wave, that I snapped at some small business-person and watched as he then did a turnaround and apologised to me, that the realisation struck me about one of the fundamental rules of surviving in Malaysia.

“Don't give face.” That's what politeness is viewed as in Malaysia - giving face, as opposed to it being just the norm of social engagement.

Malaysians pick the people they choose to be polite to, as opposed to Europeans, who pick the people they choose to be rude to.Don't get me wrong. It's not as if I think I'm beyond all this.

I used to be the quintessential rude Malaysian as well. But moving away from Malaysia, I was exposed to a culture where rudeness is not just frowned upon, it verged on the illegal!

God forbid you're rude to the supermarket cashier anywhere in Europe, or you might find them refusing to serve you. You see, we Malaysians are far too accepting of this rudeness.

I don't know why this is so, but I do know that I don't want to be in a position where my principal form of engagement with my friends, family, neighbours, mamak stall operators, restaurant waiters, supermarket cashiers and petrol station attendants is based on hostility.

I do realise that my visceral reaction to this rudeness (which like all other Malaysians, I used to be pretty blasé about) is all about me and my personal journey of adapting culturally to life in Malaysia again.

Six years ago, when I made the move out of Malaysia, I had a hard time adapting to the cultural differences in Ireland. Returning to Malaysia, I find this cycle repeating.

My experience is actually part of the typical human reaction to cultural adaption. Known as the W curve, it is the theory of anthropologist Kalvero Oberg, who in 1960 coined the term “Culture Shock”.

Oberg, who viewed culture shock as an occupational disease that international travellers face, theorised that in a move to another culture, there is an initial 'Honeymoon' period when all is rosy and one's mood is buoyant.
It then heads to a low mood period when one goes through the crisis of culture shock. After this, there is an upward mood mobility towards recovery and adjustment.

If one were then to return to one's culture of origin, the mood curve repeats itself by beginning with a 'Honeymoon' at home period, followed by a downward dip with another crisis as a result of the shock of re-entering one's home culture.

This low period is then replaced with an upward mood trend of recovery and adjustment at home.
Following Oberg's logic, I am bound for that upward trend of recovery and adjustment at some point in the future.

I'm not prepared to integrate back into Malaysian culture by being rude all the time, and polite some of the time. I'd rather it be the other way around. How about you?

A DIFFERENT SPIN
BY SHEILA STANLEY

Sheila Stanley is an ex-journalist and a mother of two children who hopes that they do not pick up the bad habit of being rude.

Testosterone Makes People Suspicious of One Another

Image: flickr/an untrained eye

A dose of testosterone might be enough to save gullible types from being ripped off, a new study reveals.
Testosterone is linked to aggression, competition and social status. Now scientists have found that the hormone also reduces naive individuals’ confidence in others.

“Testosterone reduces trust just enough to make people vigilant and careful,” said psychologist Jack van Honk of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who led the study published May 24 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the study, a few dozen females received half a milligram of testosterone under the tongue — enough to increase hormone levels tenfold. The women viewed pictures of faces and judged how trustworthy they looked. The drug decreased ratings by about half, and the effect was only strong for females who are normally easily fooled.

Van Honk speculates that the effect does not occur in cautious individuals, because the hormone would make them so paranoid that they would become socially disabled.

“I think that people are going to see that testosterone has beneficial effects on social behaviors and carries properties that might be important for applications in certain psychiatric diseases, one of them being social anxiety disorder,” he said

“It’s interesting work that fits nicely with recent work suggesting that testosterone influences social motivation and perception,” said Pranjal Mehta, a psychologist at Columbia University who was not involved in the study. Future studies should test whether testosterone decreases trust in all individuals in more competitive situations, he said. “It’s absolutely critical to test the effect of the hormone in real-world social contexts,” he said.

Previous studies have found that oxytocin, a hormone involved in bonding, increases faith in others. The two hormones together may keep trust at an optimal level, van Honk said. In future studies, he would like to determine which brain circuits regulate trust through these hormones.

 By Janelle Weaver

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