Freedom, GEABSOLUTE POWERS CORRUPT ABSOLUTELY, General Election (GE15), Malaysia, Politics, polling Nov 19: Destroy Umno for the betterment of Malaysia, race, religion, Solidality, support Aliran for Justice
AFFORDABLE housing is a subject matter which a great many homebuyers are talking about. Often, friends will comment how crazy the housing market has become.
Those who own one house, which is their primary residence, might feel the pinch when it's time to upgrade. Those who own more are probably enjoying the growth in equity.
For those who do not own a home and just starting their careers or a family, it's a nightmare for them. When salaries have not kept pace with the appreciation in home prices, the dream of owning a home becomes more distant by the day.
Knowing that is a growing problem, the Government on Tuesday launched My First Home Scheme, a programme that will enable people earning less than RM3,000 a month to get 100% financing from banks to buy houses costing between RM100,000 and RM220,000 to be repaid over a period of 30 years.
The monthly repayment sum should not exceed a third of their gross salaries but can go up to 50% if a bank allows for such a percentage.
The premise of the scheme is great but the way home prices are going, one will find it hard to find a home between that price range in the major urban centres of Malaysia.
It should be possible to find homes priced in that range in the rural and smaller towns in the country, but not in the major urban centres of the country.
The plight of the young or those with a salary of up to RM3,000 a month over housing needs will exacerbate as urban migration rises.
In 2009, according to Unicef, 71% of the population in Malaysia was urbanised but those flocking to the large and expensive cities will rise even further as the economy develops, more so as services widen its gap with manufacturing as the engine of growth.
The other issue is the rising cost of living.
Let's say a person working in Kuala Lumpur earning just under RM3,000 a month wants to buy a house costing RM220,000. If he or she is lucky to find such a house and is charged 4% interest over a period of 30 years, the person will have to pay around RM1,050 a month in house repayments.
Knowing that houses costing that much would be a long way out, a person would most probably need to own his or her own vehicle and factor the cost of vehicle ownership, utilities and the ever-rising cost of food. He or she will do well to balance his ledger at the end of every month.
The best solution, as I have said before, is for the federal and state governments to actually build homes costing that much in the major urban centres for the public to buy because I don't think there is a private sector developer in town who will be willing to sell homes at that price.
Deputy news editor Jagdev Singh Sidhu wonders if it's even possible for a higher middle income family to afford a second house in Kuala Lumpur
KUALA LUMPUR: The rise in residential property prices is still manageable and measures such as the My First Home Scheme will allow those in the lower-income brackets to own homes.
“We're watching the increase in property prices closely which we think is still manageable,” he said, adding that the My First Home Scheme, which was launched on Tuesday for those earning less than RM3,000 a month, was a people-friendly measure to enable the lower income groups to own houses.
Those who qualify for the scheme can obtain 100% financing to buy their first home with a repayment period of 30 years for houses costing between RM100,000 and RM220,000.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz at the press briefing.
Najib added that the Government was also looking into the supply side of housing to see if measures had to be taken to build more residential properties around the RM200,000 level.
According to data released by the Valuation and Property Services Department, the national house price index rose 6.2% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2010 after rising 6.2% in the second quarter and 5.7% in the first quarter.
Najib said any new issues of Islamic bank licences and foreign banks looking to increase their shareholding in local banks would be looked at on “merit” and on a “case-by-case” basis.
He said last week during a visit to Australia that the Government was open to allowing Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) raise its stake in AMMB Holdings Bhd, which owns AmBank (M) Bhd. Currently the limit for foreign shareholding in local commercial banks is 30%. ANZ has a 26.59% stake in AMMB, making the Australian bank the single largest shareholder.
Najib said the foreign shareholding limit for banks here would be reviewed individually and there would not be any changes to the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 because this was an “administrative issue”. So far, there has been no proposal by ANZ to raise the bank's stake in AMMB and other foreign banks have also not applied.
Meanwhile, Najib said the economy was expected to grow by 5% to 6% this year but would face challenges due to slower global growth, which would affect external demand.
He said the challenges were from higher crude oil prices, inflation and the sovereign debt crisis in the euro-zone.
“We'll monitor these developments closely and take the necessary steps,” Najib said. He added that several interim measures would have to be taken to support private consumption and investment should energy prices continue to rise to a “critical point”.
However, Najib said the Government was committed to long-term subsidy rationalisation, although on a gradual basis, with savings from the lower subsidy to go to those in the lower-income brackets.
PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is unconcerned about possible lawsuits over his memoirs.
Dr Mahathir said he was driven to tell the truth in his autobiography A Doctor in the House. “There will be those who will not be satisfied.
“If they want to sue, sue lah,” he quipped after launching the book at Mid Valley Megamall yesterday.
Dr Mahathir said he had kept its publication a secret until the launch date to avoid a possible court injunction to stop its release.
“I want people to read it. Whatever they think of it is their prerogative,” he said.
It took him eight years to write the autobiography, he said. “I did not type. I used long hand.”
Dr Mahathir said during his tenure as Prime Minister, he was described as a dictator.
“(In the autobiography) I tried to prove that I am not. But some people will still feel otherwise,” he said. To a question, Dr Mahathir said that through his biography, he wanted to deliver the message that it was not impossible to achieve anything when one is willing to learn.
“I was a commoner, I was not trained in the field of administration, economics or finance. But you can learn if you want to learn. The best reward is not monetary gains but the results of your effort,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also took a swipe at Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim whom he accused had claimed credit for certain things.
“He (Anwar) is claiming that the setting up of UIA (International Islamic University Malaysia) was his idea,” he said.
On his next project, Dr Mahathir said he would look into rewriting The Malay Dilemma. “When they (the Malays) were poor they were in a dilemma. When they are rich, there is a bigger dilemma,” he said.
PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad never thought he would ever become prime minister. While he harboured dreams of becoming so, he felt that the odds were stacked against him: he was nothing like the previous PMs, who were all lawyers and were either of royal blood, like Tunku Abdul Rahman, or from elite families, like Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn.
“I, on the other hand, was a commoner, the son of a former schoolteacher ...” he writes in A Doctor in the House, his long-awaited autobiography which was launched yesterday.
In his preface, Dr Mahathir states: “This is the story of Malaysia as I see it. This is also my story.” And what a story it is.
It is vintage Dr Mahathir, written in a simple, straightforward style with deprecating, yet occasionally sly humour. At the launch, he was asked about the title and he quipped:
A leader's story: The cover of the much-anticipated autobiography.
“Well, I considered calling it ‘Mahathir the Napoleon’ or ‘Mahathir the Great” or ‘Mahathir the Magnificent’ – like Suleiman the Great (the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to 1566).
“But I decided against hyperbole as that was not the right way to go.” To him, he was first and foremost a doctor, whether he was caring for his patients or the country, hence the title.
Below are excerpts from the early chapters of A Doctor in the House. MEDICINE was not considered the best qualification for a Prime Minister.
I was also a rebel and a troublemaker. I had no protector. I was expelled from Umno in 1969 for daring to criticise the Tunku.
This alone should have ended my political career. My political salvation came from Tun Razak, who overlooked my behaviour with the Tunku and smoothed my way up by making me a full Minister after I won a seat in the 1974 General Election.
When he died in 1976, my only protector was gone. I have often wondered why he (Tun Hussein 0nn) chose me to be his deputy. He knew very little about me personally.
I believe he did not have much of a choice when picking his deputy, and perhaps Tun Razak’s views still exerted some influence.
As he once told me, Tun Razak advised him to call me if he ever needed help. My own relationship with Tun Hussein, however, was sometimes strained.
He rejected a number of my suggestions and was not pleased that I had ventured to offer them. Increasingly frustrated, I stopped putting forward ideas, I did not want to annoy him and jeopardise my chances of becoming Prime Minister.
Then in 1981, Tun Hussein suddenly informed the Cabinet that he was going to the United Kingdom for treatment for his heart condition.
The operation was successful but Tun Hussein remained unwell when he returned home. One day in mid-1981, he told me that he could not carry on and wanted to step down. I was to take over from him. – from “Becoming Prime Minister”
WHILE my father stressed general education, my mother insisted that her children learn the teachings of Islam early in life.
I was closer to my mother than to my father and as a result, she shaped my personality more. She taught me the values that I have upheld throughout my life, especially to be modest and not boastful about what I have done.
Through teaching me to be modest, my mother also handed down the values of tolerance and respect. My parents were very close.
They did not demonstrate their affection for each other as it was unbecoming to do so, but I knew they loved each other very much.
I cannot imagine what growing up in a polygamous family would have been like. Surely, in such a situation, bitterness would eat at the heart of the household. I would never dream of taking another wife and causing (Tun Dr Siti) Hasmah and my children anguish and pain.
Just as I drew moral instruction from my father and mother, my children have also drawn moral guidance from me. Or so I hope. – from “Family Values”
I HAD set my heart on studying law because I enjoyed debating. But when I finally received a scholarship, it was to study medicine in Singapore.
At college, I found myself among mostly Chinese and Indian students as Malays made up only 10 per cent of the 70-odd students.
The non-Malay students were brilliant, each having entered with a minimum of 6 As. I believe that, with my 3 As, I gained entry partly due to the fact that the Government of the Malayan Union wanted some Malay students to take up medicine.
Once, in Physics class, I tried to help a Chinese student by explaining how to carry out a particular experiment. He ignored what I said and turned to another student, probably because he did not trust my grasp of the subject.
That semester was my first, and I topped the class in Physics. The snooty student failed the first-year examinations and had to leave.
College was not only about examinations and student issues. Of the seven Malay students in our batch, one was a girl named Hasmah, who wore her hair in two pigtails.
Eventually, she asked whether I could help her with some of her lessons. This would prove near-fatal to our friendship. I was a very impatient young man, and I simply could not understand why she was unable to follow my explanations.
There were times when she and I would lose our tempers, but it was very nice when we made up. We grew very close, Hasmah and I.
We were only able to get married nine years after we met. One of the dresses that Hasmah wore (at the wedding) was a traditional Chinese dress fashioned after those worn by the Chinese concubines of the Sultan of Malacca.
I teased Hasmah mercilessly after that about being my own concubine. – from “Going to Medical College” I WAS quite a popular doctor and the number of my patients - Chinese, Malays and Indians - kept increasing.
As the years passed, I found myself stuck in my clinic the whole day and long after other people had gone home. My world seemed to only consist of nights.
One unattractive aspect of a doctor’s career is obvious but rarely mentioned - most of the people I came into contact with were sick. Some were dying, and some died in front of me during treatment.
A close friend died one day of a heart attack and I was called in to certify his death. I was so affected by his death that I wept silently. I generally feel very strongly about things. Even today when something affects me, I get a tight feeling in my chest and my voice breaks. This happens frequently when I talk or even think of the Malays and their failures.
I get emotional and my tears well up. Ironically, I have a reputation for being tough, even ruthless. Maybe I am. If one wants to get things done one must be single-minded and determined. When I was Prime Minister, I wanted to redeem the honour of the Malays, Malaysians and Malaysia.
From the beginning I knew that it would require a great sense of purpose and a willingness to fend off all challenges.
It must have been those qualities that made me seem hard and uncompromising when I was Prime Minister, for nobody can succeed in politics if they do not have a tough skin.
What I did not want to show was how easily touched I was by tragedy and human suffering. – from “An Alliance is Born” 2. Dr M and the new dilemma
The second and final part of excerpts from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s instant best-seller – more than 10,000 copies sold since its launch – reveals his views and feelings on some key people and events.
PETALING JAYA: When he was Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was exciting to interview. He almost always had an opinion on everything – which made great copy and headlines.
That still holds true with his autobiography, A Doctor in the House, as the following excerpts show. > I am a Malay and proud of it. There are many reasons why I state this so strongly and boldly.
Stereotypes will always persist, even in the most progressive and educated societies. But a good leader does not let them go unchallenged. Every time when, as Prime Minister, I made a mistake or an unpopular decision, people were ready with their “dim-witted Malay” slurs. But when I made good decisions, it was always because I had Indian blood. I wanted to prove otherwise: that Malays were more than capable of thinking, progressing and leading. – Chapter 3: I Am A Malay
> Most Malays have come to think that the affirmative action instituted by the Government in the NEP is a recognition of their “superior” position as the indigenous people of this country. This is the new Malay dilemma. Do we take the bull by the horns and tell (the) Malays the truth, or do we refrain for fear of losing their political support?
Now, what we appear to have is a new culture of indigenous entitlement. Far from supporting professional Malay capabilities and competitiveness, it dampens the desire to strive. – from Chapter 18: The Malay Dilemma
> It is bizarre that many Malays seem to think that Malay reserve land is a recognition of their being “masters” of the country. This is disgraceful. The Native Americans of the US do live on reserves but no one regards it as a privilege. Indeed, it is an open acknowledgement on how they cannot compete with other Americans.
The Malay Reserve Laws should be nothing more than an interim measure, and at best, temporary crutches.
- Chapter 20: Into the Deep End
Life account: Dr Mahathir at the launch of his autobiography at Mid Valley
> Lee (Kuan Yew) and I had a civil relationship, but it was never a friendship. In the period until Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, I had numerous brushes with him in the Dewan Rakyat. His demeanour usually seemed condescending and he appeared to want to deliver lectures to the House on what it and Government should do. I listened carefully at first, but I got tired of his style of delivery. He adopted the didactic tone of a know-all schoolmaster, telling us all what we should do and pointing out all the “mistakes” we were making. – Chapter 14: The Bitter Thrill of Politics
> Talking to Lee Kuan Yew was a one-sided affair. His style of conversation, like his manner of addressing the Malaysian Parliament when he was a member, was to lecture his listeners about what was right and what was wrong. But during our discussion, I came to realise that he did not know all that much, especially on technological matters. I remember one occasion when he mentioned that he had just come across a new process of desalination. But it was not new at all and had been used generally for years.
Our relationship then was proper, professionally appropriate for political opponents, but never very friendly. Still, as Prime Minister, I worked hard at trying to resolve our various problems with Singapore but found them unresponsive. – Chapter 32: Realigning Malaysia in the World
> On the eve of my operation (a bypass following a heart attack in January 1989), a phone call came from Lee Kuan Yew. He was very concerned. He asked (Tun Siti) Hasmah to persuade me to postpone the operation because he had a medical team ready to fly to Kuala Lumpur, with the well-known cardiac surgeon Dr Victor Chang, a Singaporean living in Australia, to do the surgery. But Hasmah said I had already made up my mind (to have the bypass done by Malaysian doctors). She thanked him.
Apparently, Lee also contacted Tun Daim Zainuddin to ask him to intercede. Despite our many differences throughout the years, I appreciated Lee’s concern. – Chapter 43: Matters of the Heart
> The Europeans made the bizarre decision not to provide arms to the Bosnians (during the Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict in the 1990s) on the grounds that, should the Bosnians be able to defend themselves, more people would be killed. Apparently it was better if only Bosnians were killed. This, we thought, was morally wrong. So we decided to provide them with some light weapons.
That may have contravened United Nations orders but at this point, the Bosnians had no means to defend themselves. Other Muslim countries also provided aid, but to this day Bosnians still think that Malaysia was the country that helped them the most. – Chapter 32: Realigning Malaysia in the World
> Soon after I retired, I was to disagree with the way the (International Trade and Industry) Ministry was giving out APs (Approved Permits) to those I suspected were not conducting legitimate car businesses. This led to a falling out between me and the then Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.
In all fairness, she was very good at what she did and was promoted to the post precisely because of her ability to perform. But she was intolerant of criticism, and unlike most Malays, not afraid of being blunt. During Cabinet meetings, nobody dared to criticise her because they were wary of the heated arguments that would invariably follow. (Her) retort was always to point out how much worse you yourself were. It was all very unpleasant.
For my part, I kept her in the Cabinet because she was an able negotiator and wasn’t afraid of anybody. Because of this, she was able to obtain favourable terms for Malaysia in many trade agreements. Not without reason did those on the international trade scene call her “Rapid Fire Rafidah”. – Chapter 23: From Education to International Trade and Industry
> (As Education Minister) I was very much involved in getting Malay to be used as the main medium of instruction in schools. I believed that a common language can contribute to nation-building, a sense of identity and unity among people of all races. But when we switched to Malay, most Malays came to think very misguidedly that English was irrelevant. These days, most of our Malay-educated graduates cannot speak or write even a simple sentence in clear, correct English. – Chapter 21: Up the Political Ladder
> I have come in for a lot of condemnation by Malay language nationalists and there were many calling for Science and Mathematics to be taught in Malay again. The Government resisted, acceding to that political pressure for a time but on 8 July, 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the Cabinet decision to revert to teaching the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia in 2012. I believe this is a mistake.
Apart from the employability of the graduates, there is also the problem of bringing schoolchildren of different races together. Ever since the English-language schools were converted to National Schools, most Chinese and Indian students ceased to mix with Malay students. Public universities draw students from all the communities, but on the campus they do not integrate. The Islamic Studies faculties have discouraged Malays from mixing with non-Malays in the hostels, suggesting that contact or even close proximity with non-Muslims is polluting.
Malaysians cannot live within their racial compartments. In a multi-racial society, it is important that they become familiar with one another while still young. If the schools cannot do this, then our universities should. If they don’t, then it will never happen. – Chapter 58: Education
> Lawyers and the foreign Press regarded the removal of (the five Supreme Court) judges as proof that I had undermined the independence of the Judiciary. However, the removals were done in the manner prescribed by the Constitution.
Because I view certain actions by certain lawyers (particularly those involved in politics) with some animosity, people often assume that what I have done in public life that touched on legal issues has been motivated to get back at the legal community. The trouble with this view is that it simply happens to be wrong.
I have criticised doctors, even though I am one. My criticism of the Malays is well-known. It does not mean I hate them. I always believe that when something is done which is wrong, someone needs to tell the person concerned. – Chapter 42: The Judiciary
> Anwar is an undeniably charismatic man and he knows how to get people to support him. All that I had done for Anwar in the past has been brushed aside. I was seen as having victimised him and throwing him in jail, as if there were no trial. Whenever my name is mentioned in a book or article, I am described as the Prime Minister who threw his deputy into jail. The fact that he was properly charged and tried in court is never mentioned.
I am a forgiving person by nature, and I rehabilitated the careers of many people who tried to undermine me politically. I even named one of them as my successor after Anwar was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister.
But I find it difficult to forgive Anwar for demonising me in the eyes of the whole world. Anwar should have been the Prime Minister of Malaysia today. But if he is not, it is because of his own actions. He left me no choice but to remove him and I did what I thought was best for the country. I may have made many mistakes, but removing Anwar was not one of them. – Chapter 53: Anwar’s Challenge
> Putrajaya is a beautiful, functional city. When I visited the Versailles Palace outside Paris I heard the guide proudly extol its beauty. But when the Sun King Louis XIV built it, the people of Paris had no bread to eat. When we built Putrajaya, Malaysians had full stomachs. It was not built at the cost of neglecting their needs. It expressed the people ’s own pride, not their leader’s vanity. – Chapter 51: Putrajaya
> Throughout my tenure, I tried hard to establish certain standards. Firstly, I did not encourage the adulation and excessive glorification that is often given to leaders. I was determined that there would be no personality cult. I gave instructions that my official picture should not be displayed in government buildings, although this was widely ignored. To date, nothing has been named after me, except an orchid. – Chapter 59: Resignation
> Hoping to lead by example, I practised the values we promoted and resisted any attempts to corrupt me. It involved controlling greed. As Prime Minister I was already receiving an adequate salary but the Government also provided me with comfortable accommodation, paid my electricity and water bills, gave me cars and aircraft for my trips and allowances for my travels.
I had everything and I did not need anything more. But of course my detractors still considered me corrupt. However, my conscience is clear. – Chapter 28: Bersih, Cekap, Amanah
Singapore's Lee retracts controversial Muslim remarks
By Sapa-dpa
Singapore state founder Lee Kuan Yew retracted controversial remarks on the city-state's Malay Muslim community, says news reports.
Statement on integration 'outdated'
Lee Kuan Yew Photograph by: REUTERS/
Tim Chong Credit: REUTERS
In a book launched in January, Lee is quoted as saying that multiracial Singapore was making good progress "until the surge of Islam came". He described Muslims as "distinct and separate," and called on them to "be less strict on Islamic observances" for better social integration.
But in a statement carried by state media on Tuesday, Lee said those views were "out of date," noting that he made the comments published in the book "probably two or three years ago".
He said ministers and legislators had told him that, especially after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, "Singapore Malays have indeed made special efforts to integrate with the other communities."
"I stand corrected. I hope that this trend will continue in the future," said the 87-year-old, who serves as a minister mentor in the cabinet of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Government leaders have distanced themselves from the elder Lee's controversial remarks, and have praised Muslims' efforts to integrate.
With general elections widely expected to be called before June, the government has been eager not to alienate Muslims, who represent around 15 per cent of the island state's population of five million.
Starks: The new facility uses environmentally beneficial technologies.
By DAVID TAN davidtan@thestar.com.my
Hi-tech medical boost for Penang
Simulation centre to train docs from Asia Pacific
PENANG will serve as a hub to train physicians from the Asia Pacific region on new medical technologies next year when the Advanced Technology Centre at St Jude Medical Inc facility in Bayan Lepas starts operations.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the centre would be equipped with a wet laboratory and state-of-the-art computers that could provide simulation of the human anatomy system to train the physicians.
He said the funding for the centre would come from the US$300mil planned by St Jude Medical for the 300,000sq ft facility in Penang.
According to a Global Business Intelligence research report, the global cardiovascular market was expected to hit US$415bil in 2016, driven by the increase of cardiovascular diseases, Lim added.
“Equipped with the CE Mark approval certification, St Jude Medical has started shipping out its pacemakers and other devices to the company’s distribution centre in Sweden,” he told a press conference after opening St Jude Medical’s new facility at the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone yesterday.
Lim said the company planned to invest more than US$300mil into the Penang plant over the next five years to be used for infrastructure, wages, and capital.
He said the plant, which was now employing 150 workers, was expected to create about 2,000 jobs in the next five years.
St Jude Medical chairman Daniel Starks said the new facility incorporated environmentally beneficial technologies.
“One such environmentally friendly feature is a rain harvesting system which will use ‘grey water’ to water plants.
“This will save about 200,000 gallons of city water annually based on occupation of the building,” he added.
Headquartered in Minnesota, St Jude Medical develops medical technology and services that focus on putting more control into the hands of those who treat cardiac, neurological and chronic pain patients worldwide.
Its products include implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) devices, pace-makers, electrophysiology catheters, mapping and visualisation systems, vascular closure devices, heart valve replacement and repair products, spinal cord stimulation and deep brain stimulation devices.
St Jude Medical to invest US$300mil in Penang facility
GEORGE TOWN: St Jude Medical Inc plans to spend US$300mil on its new manufacturing facility in Penang over the next five years.
St Jude Medical chairman and president Daniel Starks said the investment would be for infrastructure, capital and wages in Penang, which would create about 2,000 jobs.
He was speaking after the launching of the new plant in Bayan Lepas by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng,
Starks said the investment would include the funding for an advanced technology centre, which was expected to be operational next year.
The company had invested about US$67mil in the manufacturing facility.
“The centre will bring in physicians from Asia Pacific and train them on the latest development in medical technology from St Jude Medical.
“The centre would use virtual reality technology to train the physicians,” he said.
Starks added that the Penang manufacturing facility would initially produce products for the company's cardiac rhythm management division.
“The CE mark approval, the required endorsement for selling products in Europe, for the manufacture of pacemakers and leads, was awarded in January and the first Accent pacemakers made in Malaysia have already been provided to physicians.
“In addition to pacemakers and leads, St Jude Medical plans to expand production to include additional products such as implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) over the next several years,” he said.
Headquartered in Minnesota, St Jude Medical develops medical technology and services that focus on putting more control into the hands of those who treat cardiac, neurological and chronic pain patients worldwide.
Its products include ICDs, cardiac resynchronisation therapy devices, pacemakers, electrophysiology catheters, mapping and visualisation systems, etc.
The company reported net sales of US$1.3bil in the fourth quarter of 2010 ended Jan 1, 2011, an increase of 12% over the US$1.2bil in the fourth quarter of 2009. Net sales in 2010 were US$5.165bil compared with US$4.681bil in 2009, an increase of 10%.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's household debt rose at a rapid rate of 11.1% per annum from 2004 to 2009, and from RM516.6bil at end-2009, it climbed by 8.4% to RM560.1bil as at end-August 2010, said CIMB Research.
The household debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio increased from 66.7% in 2004 to 76% in 2009 but is estimated to ease to 74.6% at end-2010.
The rapid growth of household borrowings is causing some worries that the excessive leveraging by households may make the economy and financial sector more vulnerable to instability and crisis.
HwangDBS Vickers banking analyst Lim Sue Lin said that the increase in household debt was also due to the cheap housing loans in the market over the last one to two years.
“What's heartening is that the balance sheets of our local banks are strong enough, and the default rates are low. In fact, mortgage non-performing loans (NPLs) are at an all-time low,” she said.
As at December 2010, mortgage NPLs stood at 3.3%. Its highest level was at 8.6% or about RM14bil in 2006. Since March 2007, this figure has been trending down.
Last year, in a bid to control appreciating property prices, the central bank increased the loan to value cap ratio to 70% for the third and subsequent mortgage loans. This move was applauded by economists and analysts as it was basically the central bank's way of curbing speculation.
“With banks requiring to set aside higher risk weights of 100% (from 75%) for mortgages with loan-to-value above 90%, this implies that banks would need to be more vigilant in utilising their capital. However, we think that if banks are still able to secure good quality mortgage loans with minimal credit cost issues, they may continue to give out mortgages at 90% loan to value,” added Lim.
Certainly, rising property prices have fanned an increase in borrowings. The share of household loans to total bank loans rose from 35.2% in 2000 to 55.5% as at end-August 2010. Mortgage debt accounts for 48.5% of total household loans currently.
Another banking analyst said that while the household debt level was high, Malaysians also had a very high savings rate, at about 35% of GDP.
“Bank Negara's control of the mortgage market is its way of controlling household debt. Thus, this should not dampen the sentiment of the market as the authorities are mindful and pre-emptive of this situation,” said this banking analyst.
CIMB head of economics Lee Heng Guie said the various financial indicators indicated that Malaysia's household balance sheet remained healthy with financial assets' coverage of total debt at 2.5 times, the liquid financial assets to debt ratio remained strong at 148.6%, and the non-performing loans ratio was low at 3.1% vs 8.5% in 2004.
“The strong balance sheet enabled the household sector to continue servicing its debt despite the rise of the debt service ratio to 49.2% in 2009 (38.4% in 2004),” said Lee.
As at end-August 2010, mortgage loans accounted for 48.5% of total household loans and 26.9% of total bank loans, followed by motor vehicle financing (25.9% of total household loans).
Credit card lending accelerated 16.4% per annum in 2000 to August 2010, pushing its share of total household loans from 5% in 2000 to 6.1% currently.
“Credit card lending now totals RM28.6bil or 3.4% of total bank loans. This means that higher interest rates would cause real hardship for those with large mortgages,” said Lee.
He added that on the demand side, the rapid build-up of household debt stemmed from changing demographics, strong economic growth, a steady rise in incomes and low interest rates.
On a cautionary note, Lee said that excessive household indebtedness not only raised concerns over its sustainability but also posed a risk to the financial system.
“High levels of household debt may also constrain the effectiveness of monetary policy as it heightens the sensitivity of households' behaviour to changes in interest rates,” he added.
March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Investors outside the U.S. have boosted their holdings of longer-maturity Treasuries to the highest level since the credit markets froze in 2008, helping curb rising yields amid concern inflation is accelerating.
International buyers held 90 percent of their $4.44 trillion of U.S. government debt in notes and bonds as of December, the same as in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed, Treasury data released last week show. The ratio fell to 83 percent in October 2009 as investors sought the safety of Treasury bills with the U.S. economic recovery still in question.
The shift toward long-term debt shows bond buyers outside the U.S. agree with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s assessment that inflation will be contained even as global food and energy prices soar. Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., warned last week that yields on Treasuries are too low with inflation accelerating and the central bank planning to complete $600 billion in asset purchases in June.
“Inflation in the U.S. isn’t a big problem,” said Zeal Yin, who buys Treasuries for Shin Kong Life Insurance Co. in Taipei, Taiwan’s second-largest life insurer with the equivalent of $50.6 billion in assets. Yin said he purchased U.S. government debt last week. “I’m bullish.”
Stocks Beat Bonds
The yield on the benchmark 3.625 percent note due February 2021 rose eight basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 3.49 percent last week, and climbed two basis points to 3.51 percent at 11 a.m. in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data.
Ten-year yields increased in each of the past six months, the longest stretch since the period ended June 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. U.S. government securities have lost 0.4 percent this year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s U.S. Treasury Master index. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has climbed 5.1 percent during the same period as confidence in the economic recovery grows.
“We increased the portion of foreign-currency- denominated bonds, mainly Treasuries, because of the higher interest rates,” said Satoshi Okumoto, a general manager in Tokyo at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co., which has the equivalent of $67.1 billion in assets. “When we need to increase our foreign-currency bonds significantly, the U.S. is the only place to put the money because of the liquidity.”
China’s Shift
The amount of marketable U.S. debt outstanding surpassed $9 trillion last month. Retaining demand from international buyers, who own half of the Treasury debt outstanding, is key to keeping borrowing costs from surging as the Obama administration seeks to finance cumulative budget deficits that the White House estimates will exceed $4 trillion through 2015.
Interest expense will rise to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product by 2016, from 1.3 percent in 2010, according to administration estimates. While yields on the benchmark 10-year note are up, they remain below the average of 4.13 percent over the past decade.
The Treasury will sell $66 billion of three-, 10- and 30-year securities over three days beginning tomorrow. Last month, indirect bidders, the class of buyers that includes foreign central banks, bought a record 71 percent, or $17 billion of the $24 billion in 10-year notes offered at the auction.
China, the largest investor in U.S. government debt after the Fed, increased longer-term notes and bonds by 39 percent to $1.145 trillion in December from a year earlier, while its stake in bills declined 78 percent to $15.4 billion, the most recent Treasury data show.
‘Extremely Supportive’
The nation bought more U.S. bonds even as its leaders criticized Bernanke’s plan for the Fed to buy $600 billion of Treasuries by June. Jesse Wang, executive vice president of China Investment Corp., the country’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, said Jan. 15 that devoting too much of its reserves to U.S. assets such as Treasuries was too risky.
“They remain extremely supportive for the Treasury market,” said Priya Misra, head of U.S. rates strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, one of the 20 primary dealers that trade with the Fed.
Japan, the second largest holder of Treasury debt, increased its investment to a revised $882.3 billion, the highest ever, from $765.7 billion a year earlier.
Longer-term U.S. bonds offer the highest yields relative to short-maturity debt of any Group of Seven nation, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Yield Curve
The yield curve showing the difference between rates on two- and 10-year notes was 2.81 percentage points, after reaching a near record 2.93 percentage points at the start of February. The gap in Germany is 1.51 percentage points, 2.23 in the U.K. and 1.06 in Japan.
The curve will narrow to 2.63 percentage points by year-end and to 2.26 points by mid-2012, based on the median estimate of more than 40 economists and strategists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Strategists say the expectations show investors see little chance of inflation accelerating anytime soon. Returns on 30-year Treasuries, the most vulnerable to rising consumer prices because they have the longest maturity, gained last month for the first time since August, returning 1.51 percent, compared with an average loss of 0.09 percent for all Treasuries, Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes show.
“The yield curve dynamics will change dramatically” in the U.S. as the gap narrows, John Richards, head of North American Strategy at RBS Securities Inc., said at a forum in Tokyo on March 3. “I call this the beginning of the great compression of short-term and long-term rates.”
Inflation Experience
Oil costing more than $100 a barrel and record high food prices probably won’t cause a permanent increase in inflation and borrowing costs are likely to stay low, Bernanke said March 1 in his semi-annual monetary policy testimony before Congress.
Experience with such price gains in recent decades, along with currently stable labor costs, suggest a “temporary and relatively modest increase in U.S. consumer price inflation,” Bernanke said in Washington.
While the consumer-price index jumped 0.4 percent in January, the core measure, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2 percent in January, in line with the average monthly gain of 0.16 percent over the past 10 years, figures from the Labor Department showed Feb. 17.
“Bernanke tends to think this doesn’t matter -- at least in terms of headline versus the core -- we do,” Gross said in a March 4 interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene.
Cutting Treasuries
Gross cut holdings of U.S. government and related debt in Pimco’s $237 billion Total Return Fund to 12 percent in January, the least in two years. He recommends higher-returning assets such as emerging- market debt and corporate bonds.
The difference in yields between 10-year notes and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS, was 2.50 percentage points on March 4, the highest since July 2008. The spread, which reflects the outlook among traders for consumer prices over the life of the bonds, averaged 2.43 points in the five years before the credit crisis.
“We would not be a buyer of Treasuries at these levels,” said Andy Richman, who oversees $10 billion as a director of fixed-income at SunTrust Bank’s Wealth and Investment Management in Palm Beach, Florida. “Inflation is becoming more of a problem than it has been. The truck of inflation moving down the road is getting closer and closer.”
Treasury yields have also risen on confidence that President Barack Obama’s $858 billion tax compromise in December and the Fed’s monetary policies have put the economy on a more stable path to recovery.
Job Gains
The U.S. added 192,000 jobs in February, a report from the Labor Department showed March 4, up from a revised 63,000 in January. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey had forecast the economy would add 196,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.9 percent, the lowest level since April 2009.
While Bernanke said inflation remains subdued in the U.S., European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said March 3 the ECB may raise interest rates next month for the first time in almost three years to fight mounting inflation pressures.
The European Union’s central bank boosted its inflation and growth forecasts, saying consumer price gains will average 2.3 percent this year, up from a December forecast of 1.8 percent and exceeding the ECB’s 2 percent limit.
--With assistance from Daniel Kruger in New York, Ronnie Harui in Singapore and 野沢茂樹 and Yumi Ikeda in Tokyo. Editors: Dave Liedtka, Robert Burgess
Tweet A FRIEND recently retired from an organisation which he has headed for the past 14 years. I remember those early days when he decided to leave the corporate world to venture into social work.
It was not easy fitting in initially, as he tried to bring in some semblance of order in an environment where the staff worked with passion despite the low salaries and still considered it a bonus to get a “nice warm feeling” at the end of the year.
One of his “achievements”, for want of better word, was the fact that he had 14 PAs working for him during his tenure.
So the immediate reaction must be, “what a horrible boss he must be to have so many changes of PAs.”
The fact of the matter is that all these PAs were groomed and then released to take on different positions within the organisation. He recognised talent and was not afraid to let them go.
Which was why they had plenty of good things to say about him at the farewell party.
As I reflect on this story, it dawns on me that there are many people in the working world who are often stuck in routine jobs who never seem to get a chance to break out and soar to greater heights.
Sometimes they may not have the confidence to tell their immediate superiors about their abilities. Sometimes it may be because their superiors simply will not let them go for fear that they may outshine them.
In the movie What Women Want (its Chinese remake recently released, starring Gong Li and Andy Lau) we have Erin the file girl played by Judy Greer who basically walks around carrying files from one person to another. Despite her talent, and her desire to apply for some internal positions that will make full use of her abilities, she is basically ignored.
Does this sound familiar?
I am sure you would also know of someone who feels unfulfilled in his job and has the potential to do so much if he was only given the chance. Do you just brush the request aside or are you prepared to listen to his dreams and help him along?
Another friend works in a company where anyone who is appointed to a senior position must have his designated successor within three months. It is a good way to force the person to quickly identify the talents under him and realise that in the real world, no one is really indispensible. I reckon a healthy dose of humility is good for the corporate soul.
In one of my earlier articles for this column I wrote about how in the various places I have worked, I have grown to appreciate the fact that the silent office clerk could well be a Lat in the making. Or that the person much maligned at the workplace would be so well loved as an angel by friends and neighbours.
I know of many workers who give of their time and their talent to worthy causes although this is often not reflected in their company records.
Any CEO should be proud of such staff, for they truly are the real ambassadors of the company.
Maybe it is good for those of us who have some form of managerial positions to look around and see if we can play a small part in making some people's dreams come true. For when they soar like eagles, we can truly be part of the ride.
Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin would like to quote leadership guru Max De Pree who says, “We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”
It is only through hard work that one is able to deal with challenges and attain success.
FROM the time I was a child, I’ve worked hard. My siblings and I were not the only ones required to study hard, but we had to complete all chores, big and small, by the end of each day.
This trait was so ingrained in me that even in university, friends were amazed at how I could go dating every night and yet do extremely well in all my exams!
My then boyfriend, who is now my husband, used to joke with girls who queried him, “If you want to know the secret of her success, date me.”
Working hard was second nature to me. In fact, on my first posting, I was made the school’s Science Panel head. And while I was still wet behind the ears, I was assigned Form Five examination classes to teach.
I remember that I did not baulk. Despite some internal trepidation, I just got cracking and soon mastered the art of juggling my heavy responsibilities at school with the demands of my young marriage.
Many of my colleagues in similar positions then worked as hard as I did. We shared stories of how we could go home from a hectic day at school to cook, clean and raise our children.
Hard work underlined my teaching life. Woon*, a teacher friend of mine told me of how it took her 26 long years of working in a primary school, obtaining her degree part-time, moving on to a secondary school, suffering at the hands of several unfair practices and bearing up with a myriad of responsibilities, before she was finally recognised as a Guru Cemerlang (excellent teacher) last year!
I take my hat off to teachers like her who were brought up, not only to work hard, but to continue doing so despite the adverse and challenging times.
Interestingly enough, Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers – The Story of Success, agrees completely with what I’ve just said about the virtue of working hard.
Gladwell talks about the culture of hard work among Asians and ascribes this quality to the success enjoyed by many of them in America.
“In any Western College campus,” he writes, “Asian students have the reputation of being in the library long after everyone else has left”.
In the case of Chinese students, he traces this legacy to the peasant farmers in Southern China who didn’t sleep through the winter like their Western counterparts, but kept on working instead - repairing dikes, selling baskets, making tofu, doing many side tasks and then, when the winter was over – were “back in the fields at dawn!”
According to Gladwell, being willing to work hard on tasks that others would have long given up, is one of the traits of a successful person.
Thanks to Yale University Law Professor, Amy Chua’s book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, “putting children through a gruelling schedule tailor-made for success” has now become a hot issue for worldwide debate.
Yet, how many of us teachers and parents can deny the fact that we ourselves often exhort our young to not only study hard, but study really hard?
The Asian perspective is clear - there is no short cut to success, only hard work.
I personally advocate balance. The work-reward cycle is what I believe in – and I tell my students so. I urge them to intersperse stints of hard work with doing activities they enjoy – like dancing, playing basketball or listening to music. But, I do motivate them to work hard.
I know that not all of them do so. Some just don’t or won’t put in the required work. I have accepted the fact that, after all has been said and done by a dedicated teacher, the choice a student makes ‘to be or not to be’ hardworking is sometimes out of the teacher’s hands.
To the administrative team in any school, it is more irksome to deal with teachers who don’t pull their weight. There is now an undeniable and growing divide between teachers who work hard as a matter of course (due to their cultural/familial upbringing, personal beliefs or attitude) and those who don’t.
Khatijah*, who has been an academic senior assistant for the past eight years laments the fact that when deadlines loom at school, it is the teachers who don’t meet targets and deadlines, that aggravate her the most. To her and many in her position, this culture of desultory work and laziness among some teachers is what seriously affects the performance levels of the school.
She confides to me, “Some say it is the young teachers of today and their attitude towards work that are mostly to blame but seriously, I beg to differ. I’ve seen many a young teacher doing an admirable job while an older one remains tardy.”
Mohd Azmi*, who has been a school principal for 15 years, puts it very bluntly, “If we want to get school programmes up and running, let’s get some things straight. Work is work and it must be done. The sooner everyone understands this, the faster we achieve success.”
By the way, have you read about the dabbawalas of Mumbai – that fleet of mostly illiterate men donning white caps, who use bicycles and trains in the most efficient way possible to deliver hot lunches from homes to offices all over the Indian city?
Their work culture is so impressive that Harvard Business School has studied it as part of its MBA curriculum. The name of the case study? The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time! Gladwell says, “Working really hard is what successful people do.”
He’s right. The dabbawalas in Mumbai are successful because they work really hard. Not only that – they respect their work and are grateful for it; work is worship and a means to serve God, and finally, they work not because their boss is watching them do it, but because it is the right thing to do.
Listen. If you’re a laggard at work, pull up your socks my friend, pull them up!
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz at the press briefing.
