:: S-I-C it ::

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

The Expected Stock Market Boom

Who was it who said that there are some RM30 billion awaiting to enter our stock market, once the BN is given a massive mandate. Has anyone been following the market after 21st March? Has the Malaysian massive mandate boom occurred? If it is has, we must have been sleeping.

03/31/2004 COMPOSITE 891.80(-9.72) 2ND-BOARD 134.05(-0.75)
03/30/2004 COMPOSITE 901.52(1.94) 2ND-BOARD 134.80(-2.05)
03/30/2004 COMPOSITE 891.61(-7.97) 2ND-BOARD 135.19(-1.66)
03/29/2004 COMPOSITE 899.58(4.46) 2ND-BOARD 136.85(-1.62)
03/29/2004 COMPOSITE 889.82(-5.30) 2ND-BOARD 136.72(-1.75)
03/26/2004 COMPOSITE 895.12(4.98) 2ND-BOARD 138.47(-0.20)
03/26/2004 COMPOSITE 894.12(3.98) 2ND-BOARD 138.66(-0.01)
03/25/2004 COMPOSITE 890.14(-5.17) 2ND-BOARD 138.67(-1.95)
03/25/2004 COMPOSITE 894.06(-1.25) 2ND-BOARD 139.85(-0.77)
03/24/2004 COMPOSITE 895.31(-2.56) 2ND-BOARD 140.62(0.52)
03/24/2004 COMPOSITE 896.36(-1.51) 2ND-BOARD 139.89(-0.21)
03/23/2004 COMPOSITE 897.87(-11.09) 2ND-BOARD 140.10(-2.00)
03/23/2004 COMPOSITE 895.33(-13.63) 2ND-BOARD 139.50(-2.60)
03/22/2004 COMPOSITE 908.96(4.51) 2ND-BOARD 142.10(-1.09) .
03/22/2004 COMPOSITE 908.41(3.96) 2ND-BOARD 142.97(-0.22)

The figures in black are the closing figures for the morning session and the figures in red are for the end of the day. Before polling day the market closed COMPOSITE 904.45 and 2ND BOARD 143.19. Till the time of blogging the market is nowhere near that level. The other noticeable thing about the indices is that they tend to fall after the market opens on most days and only get mysteriously raised at the end of the day. Now are there some mysterious forces at work? And also where are the promised RM30 billion?

| ¶ 3/31/2004 03:49:00 PM

Sunday, March 28, 2004

How the 11th Election was Won

Many have pointed out that the massive win by the BN in the recently concluded GE2004 was because of one man, Pak Lah and the 'feel good' factor associated with him. But who were those involved in the successful marketing of this man and his 'feel good' factor?
Bernama has this to report :: BN Effectively Used "Soft-Sell" For Election Advertising Campaign.
The "soft-sell" campaign was coordinated by two of Pak Lah's aides and to carry out the media blitz, three or four advertising companies were utilised to run adverts on TV, radio, print media, billboards and, for the first time, direct mail :: the Pesanan daripada Pak Lah.
According to Leo Burnett Advertising's chairman and executive creative director Ali Mohamed :: "Soft-sell has greater appeal, if you don't talk bad about other people but talk about what Pak Lah is trying to do for us, for a better Malaysia." Leo Burnett Advertising worked on the TV commercials used for this election.
AsiaTimes online in its article entitled :: Abdullah: Real change or rhetoric in Malaysia?, also mentioned about the advertising blitz ::

The BN win is also a triumph for the advertising and marketing firms, which coordinated the public relations blitz. The intensive advertising campaign - from the billboards to the full-page ads to the glossy pamphlets - bore all the marks of professional marketing techniques.
For this campaign, the BN reportedly used at least three different advertising agencies. Its television commercials were reportedly produced by the ad agency Leo Burnett, while two other agencies (who are they, i wonder?) coordinated the print and poster campaigns. The ads consistently hammered home the theme that only the BN could ensure "stability" and "development". Tried and tested commercial methods were used to tug at voters' emotions to urge them to "buy" the product (BN).

Malaysian Election Media Monitors' Diary also touched on this aspect of the BN GE2004 campaign and has this to comment ::

It is obvious too that capitalism and Big Business are creeping into the electoral process in new and unhealthy ways. Look at the "feel-good" ads taken out by MAS, Tenaga, etc. Look at the number of fawning full-page ads congratulating the BN on its victory. These ads were taken out by various businessmen/firms who probably want to ingratiate themselves to the ruling politicians. Look at the growing prominence of ad agencies and the coordinated advertising campaigns.
And they say they are trying to wipe out money politics? Gimme a break...

GE2004 is not the only election where well coordinated advertising blitz had been in use but in the previous ones, the fear factor was mainly used, there were less persuasion, rather the ads made the voters afraid of voting non-BN candidates. GE2004 was about 'soft-sell' techniques. It is obvious that Malaysian election campaigns of the future would have more of this form of media blitz and the spin doctors and the advertising agencies chosen to carry out this work will in the future use different techniques to mesmerise the electorate to vote accordingly as the situation demands. With the BN having the money, the willing big business sponsors, the willing print media, most self-owned, the friendly TV stations, the BN will obviously have the upper hand. How then will the alternative parties be able to compete effectively. The electorate will have to be made aware of such advertising blitz campaigns during election and to see behind the messages they carry and not to be taken in. Media monitors will have to look out for unfair advertising blitz and timely warn the electorate accordingly.
Looking back, it was not only in that very short campaign period that the advertising blitz was present, the campaign must have started subtlely as soon as Pak Lah came on as the new PM on 1st Nov 2003. The Mr Nice Clean Guy with the 'feel good' image must have started by the latest then. The GE2004 campaign was just a continuum and having an electorate that was willing for a change, any change as the former PM of 22 years had overstayed. Most fell under this 'spell' ever so unconsciously and the rest is recent history.
Apart from all this, the alternative parties will have to contend with the role played by the EC in elections. The EC has really been roasted this 11th election. It role as an impartial conductor of election has been questionable, ranging from 8 yearly gerrymandering to unclean electoral rolls to ensuring short campaign periods favourable to the BN and turning the blind eye when the occasion demands. In view of all these, can the alternative parties ever fight an election with a near level playing field let alone a level one? Is a Royal Commission on the EC and all things associated with elections themselves the answer?

| ¶ 3/28/2004 10:19:00 PM

Sunday, March 21, 2004

It finally boils down to Money/Economy

After all the campaigning about "Excellence, Glory and Distinction" in the past few days; as the 11th election winds down, it looks like what it is all about is really money and the economy, for it looks like what our caretaker PM is saying is that money makes the world go round. The cat is finally out of the bag. All this harping on the need for a bigger mandate these past few days, see also here, here and here.The reason is that some RM30 billion in funds is waiting to enter the Malaysian equities market, Pak Lah said. "So please take the economic signals. The signals say that if the (ruling party) comes back with a good mandate, the economy will be doing even better - take the cue from the economic sector," continued Pak Lah. This will surely get all the share market punters and their friends and cronies out to cast their votes for the BN. What Pak Lah is saying in simple terms, vote us in with a massive mandate and there will be money to be made. But do remember, this could be a poison chalice, remember what massive mandates can do, one just need to look back at the recent past.
The caretaker PM would like us to believe that a landslide victory in the 11th election would result in a government which could better attract investment and help the country withstand regional competition. But what the country need is a government which would set things right and make amends for abuses the nation has been subjected to in the recent past because of massive mandates. Wouldn't a bigger opposition voice in Parliament after the 11th election help to achieve this. A nation whose people are subjected to better governance and not have its riches and resources abused and wasted would be more resistant to whatever it may face and not be so dependent on foreign investments and resultant exploitation. Haven't the recent Asian economic crisis taught us a thing or two. Foreign investments will come when there is money to be made and in bad times they will run away to somewhere else.
What is more important is for the government to govern well and ensure that the people adopt good work ethics, a culture of high performance and better corporate governance as well as eradicate corruption. For such things, the government need no massive mandate but only need to show it is sincere, honest, caring and itself accountable and transparent and the rest will fall in place accordingly.
Vote wisely and never give a government a massive mandate and therefore a blank cheque to do whatever it likes. Remember a STRONG government does not mean a GOOD government.

| ¶ 3/21/2004 12:54:00 AM

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

William & Edward Hung's FlashDance

William No 32716 Hung
Don't let the 11th election and all the shenanigans, chicanery, walkovers and 3-cornered fights get to you and get you down and out. Remember William Hung of American Idol fame. He is expected back on the programme soon. But why wait you can see Edward's Hung doing his stuff by clicking here. Sure to have you smiling again.
If you rather see the latest from William himself click here.
For Willy Hung's American Idol audition video clip go here.

| ¶ 3/16/2004 01:30:00 AM

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Sleepy Bernama Website

Those who are maintaining the Bernama website must be lacking sleep lately as more and more typos and errors are appearing. They must have been at it for hours without sleep. The following was spotted at 100am Thursday ::

MCA To Fight Opposition In Melaka
ALOR GAJAH, March 10 (Bernama) -- MCA candidates representing the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Kota Melaka Parliamentary constituency and the State seats under it will fight DAP to the death this general election, its President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said.

i certainly hope it won't come to that, a fight to the death, whether it is the parties or the candidates. PDRM please send your men to ensure that there are no such fights.

Strong Support For Scales In Pulau Pinang
SANDAKAN, March 10 (Bernama) -- For many residents of Pulau Tanjung Batu near here, the symbol of Barisan Nasional's (BN) "scales" is viewed with pride as a sign of development.

Now when has Pulau Pinang become a part of Sabah?

A check on the website at 845am showed the same, they must still be in slumberland.

| ¶ 3/11/2004 01:04:00 AM

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Amusing moments with our Politikus & EC

'Tis the season for amusing sayings and moments with our politikus as we head forward to nomination day and polling day.
Our caretaker MITI, one Kak Rafidah is quoted by Bernama as saying this ::
"Do you want a credible government, a tested, responsible and (one that) has proven itself to be not only business-friendly, not only able to deliver but also has had women on its agenda for a long time".
She is also quoted as saying :: "The Barisan Nasional had always had a very special agenda for women and let's not ignore those facts."
Now can Kak Rafidah please enlighten us all regarding this special agenda for women.
Because of this special agenda for women, she urged women in Malaysia not to highlight women's issues at this juncture as "we only have 10 days' left, so the only issue in front of us is what kind of government do you want." Shouldn't she be asking for a longer campaigning period so that women's issues can be highlighted and dealt with?
She has also confirmed that she will be contesting in GE2004, but we were told that all will only be made known on Thursday. Has Pak Lah whispered into her ears? If she is really contesting and should win, the government she would be in would certainly be a more than credible government indeed.

People's Progressive Party (PPP) president Datuk M. Kayveas is a busy man as of late, he has been very busy trying to find a constituency to contest in. First it was Cameron Highlands, where he claimed to have done a lot of nursing for the past 3 years but the rumour mills have it that he will be given the UMNO stronghold of Bukit Gantang instead. But then he isn't too sure at the moment and therefore he urges all to be patient, most of all himself, most likely. When asked about his Bukit Gantang candidacy, he said he was not surprised that Umno members in the constituency objected to fielding candidates from other parties in Bukit Gantang and he respected their feelings as it was a traditional Umno seat. Bernama also reported this :: "I think that their objections are fair and I myself support the objections. I would probably act the same way if a traditional PPP seat is given to another party," he said in a statement here. Now has the PPP any traditional seat to give away?

Bernama has also reported that for this election :: NS Puteri UMNO Ready To Lure More Young Voters. This was in reference to the Negeri Sembilan Puteri Umno election machinery which is ready to attract more young voters to cast their votes in the 11th general election this March 21st, this was said by its chief Bibi Sharliza Mohd Khalid.

The Election Commission is in the news. First it says that the claim of the existence Of 48% Phantom Voters was illogical and even suggest that the monitoring group called MAFREL may be itself a phantom. EC Secretary Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, who doubted the validity of the organisation, also said that the precentage stated was not logical. "I do not know whether they are a registered organisation or not because during election time, sometimes a lot of people just form so called teams to monitor the election, but they are not recognised by anybody especially the Election Commission". Maybe the EC Sec would like to know that MAFREL was formed in Oct 2003 and had its first meeting on 23rd Oct 2003. Go look for yourself, Mr EC Sec, here, it is just a tikus click away.
The EC says that nomination papers have been sold out. EC Secretary said that nomination papers, priced at RM20 a set, were sold out since the first day of sales last Sunday and the papers are going into reprints. According to him, the EC did not sell the papers indiscriminately. He said the papers were sold according to the limit which was one for every Parliamentary seat and 10 for every State seat. Why just one for every Parliamentary seat, are all of them going to be uncontested and is the EC expecting 10 candidates for each state seat?
The Malay Mail reported that the complete electoral roll CD would cost RM41,926.20 and the book form RM41,766.20. Surely the 'cetak rompak' guys would make a killing and charge much less. Why so expensive, only the EC knows? How many political parties can afford to cough out these amounts for the electoral rolls?

| ¶ 3/10/2004 12:17:00 AM

Sunday, March 07, 2004

The Bulls, The Bulls

The 11th Election official campaign has yet to start but already the bulls have started coming.
Who was it who said recently that "Everyone loves us" when referring to the love of the people of Kelantan for BN.
Then there was this guy who said "people will reject personal issues". Was he referring to his own or others?
Now comes our caretaker Agri Minister with his "‘All Malaysians have equal rights’".

"Barisan has always been fair and practised equality, especially in bringing development to the people no matter how small a racial group they come from.
“We also believe that every community must be treated equally and all Malaysians have equal rights in the country.”
"We feel Malaysians are blessed to have such a government and due to our fairness and total commitment to the people, Malaysia is saved from political or racial chaos,”

What a relief to hear all these, only the other day my kawan kawan were saying that there were no equal rights in this country. We are indeed blessed to have a fair government which is totally commited to the people. Surely the words of a MINIster, who happens also to be an UMNO VC can be trusted. So, bye now, must go tell my kawan kawan, so that we can go and claim our equal rights and equal treatment.

Tua Kia was the one who alerted me regarding this 'feel good' message from the Tan Sri, please e-mail me if anyone of you spots similar good tidings so that the cynic-in-me can be put to rest and i can inform one and all.

| ¶ 3/07/2004 10:10:00 AM

Friday, March 05, 2004

Nomination and Polling Days

Our EC chairman has announced over TV,

Nomination Day :: 13thMarch 2004

Polling Day :: 21st March 2004

Period for campaigning :: 8 days
(shortest in Malaysian Election History!)

| ¶ 3/05/2004 12:37:00 PM

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Yes One day, No Another

"An election candidate sentenced to more than a year in jail and RM2,000 fine can still contest if the candidate was allowed a stay of execution pending appeal".
"If the court has found the person guilty and sentenced him to more than one year imprisonment or more than RM2,000 fine but at the same time allowed stay of execution for appeal, then, he cannot be disqualified because the sentence has not been executed."
"He remains qualified while his appeal is ongoing...but immediately after he exhausts all avenues for appeal and the sentence has to be executed then...of course he will be disqualified."

.
The above statements were made by the Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman in October 2003 as found in this Malaysiakini article
This was welcomed news to those who had court cases pending and had not exhausted their legal avenues. Among those affected are 3 Keadilan leaders, namely Azmin, Ecxam and Irene Fernandez. They must have felt extremely relieved and must have set about preparing for the fast approaching general election.
The announcement that Parliament would be dissolved was made on 3rd March and on 4th March, Parliament was dissolved. Imagine the shock the three must have had on receiving news from the Election Commission soon after the announcement of dissolution of Parliament that they will be barred from contesting the 11th general election. According to a Bernama report ::

Parti Keadilan Nasional leaders Mohamed Azmin Ali, Mohamed Ezam Mohamed Noor and Irene Fernandez are not eligible to contest in the 11th general election as they have been convicted for various offences by the court.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said that this was clearly stated in the Federal Constitution.
"Just a conviction is enough. It means that an appeal which is pending is not taken into account," he told reporters at the EC headquarters, here Thursday.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman further stated ::

"In this instance, in accordance with the Constitution, they cannot contest". "Actually, as they are not eligible, they need not. It's not that the EC is saying (they) cannot, but the law says (they) cannot".

When asked by Malaysiakini why the gostan/about turn at the 11th hour ::

In explaining his about-turn, Abdul Rashid said his earlier comment was made without consulting the commission’s legal department.
"When I made that statement then, I was thinking more of a general interpretation of the law. I had thought that if a person has not suffered from his convictions, he is still able to run.
"But after discussion with my legal officers, I found out that such interpretations cannot be applied to the election law. The law states that once the conviction is delivered the disqualification applies automatically after," he said when contacted.

Considering the length of time, some 5 months taken by the EC chairman to make the gostan decision, it would not be surprising for many to think that there is a hidden agenda. And for the EC Chairman saying something so important and now saying he was not correct in saying what he had stated in October, for many would be incredible and unbelieveable. Can such a Chairman be called responsible and credible? Then again many would ask why the decision to disqualify them even before they have submitted their nomination papers. But in Bolehland, all things are possible and credible depending on who says or does it.
The Keadilan three are not going to take this reversal sitting down but will they have the time to challenge this decision of the EC at the 11th hour, remembering the 11th election nomination day is just days away.

| ¶ 3/04/2004 11:24:00 PM

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Zam is back

You can't really put a good guy down or away. Having just retired on the 24th Feb as the DIM (Deputy Info Minister), Datuk Zainuddin Maidin is back once again, now in his new role as the Media Advisor to the Info Ministry. DAP's Lim Kit Siang calls him the UMNO/BN 'Hatchet Man' and wonders why he is being paid by the taxpayers to do UMNO/BN propaganda work. He is definitely earning his keeps as he is back in the news again. This time according to the Utusan, Zam said that although television programmes were not the main cause of the low turnout of voters during elections, their effect was still significant. He noted that even one vote could determine the victory of a candidate in the elections and the party that would eventually form the government.
Since the newly appointed Media Advisor appeared not to have ideas of attracting voters to come out and vote on election day, he has advised the next best method. He wil urge and advise not only public television stations to co-operate but private television stations as well, NOT to air entertainment programmes that can keep viewers “glued” to their television sets on polling day. What an ingenious idea. Surely ASTRO will be included when he is giving this advice. Why not take things a step further and have all TV stations on that particular day, some says that it will be the 21st of March, showing only coverage of the election and nothing else. Better still have the TV stations urge all eligible voters and even phantoms too, to go out and vote and mark an X for BN only. This will surely result in a massive landslide win for BN and a major portion of the credits will definitely go to this newly appointed Info Ministry Media Advisor. It must also be remembered that it has been speculated that he has been slated to stand in the Merbok Parliamentary seat and if he should win, what better reward could be his then to be finally made the Info Minister, a position in which he can continue to serve the nation with his good work.

| ¶ 3/03/2004 12:09:00 AM