Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Poll shows divided Malays & Malaysians

Poll shows divided Malays

July 09, 2010

Najib has been forced to back down on planned reforms to protect Umno’s Malay backing. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — Malays are split over whether affirmative action should continue and if they actually benefit enough from government programmes, a public opinion poll on political values show. The poll by the independent Merdeka Center released today also found a majority of Malays surveyed — 70 per cent — felt that corruption among the community's leaders was the main threat to the Malay/Bumiputera political position as opposed to "demands made by other races in the country."

The results of this latest survey suggest Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) still has its work cut out in their bid to win back lost support since Election 2008.

Umno's leadership has been particularly sensitive about the Malay ground even as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak continues to push his reform agenda.

Najib has been forced to hold back several drastic reforms to affirmative action policies because many within Umno are convinced the majority of Malays will return to the party if it becomes more strident in protecting Malay interests.

But the latest Merdeka Center survey showed that the Malays were equally split on government assistance programmes with 45 per cent of them believing that it only benefits the rich and politically connected.  


About 48 per cent of the Malays surveyed believed that such programmes have benefited the ordinary public.

The poll was conducted between January 21 and April 26 to gauge public attitudes towards a number of issues such as national unity, integrity, democratic participation and affirmative action, said Merdeka Center in a statement.

It added that a total of 3141 Malaysians aged 19 and above were interviewed nationwide, comprising 51 per cent Malays, 26 per cent Chinese, seven per cent Indian, nine per cent other Muslim Bumiputeras and seven per cent non-Muslim Bumiputeras.

The survey also showed that 59 per cent of the Malays and Bumiputeras believed that special privileges should continue to be accorded to them by virtue of being the original inhabitants of the country.

But up to 40 per cent of the Malay respondents said that all Malaysians should receive equal treatment regardless of race or religion.

The survey results also indicated that the non-Malays were almost split on the Najib administration's national unity agenda with 46 per cent of the respondents believing that the 1 Malaysia concept is only a political agenda to win the non-Malay votes.

Only 39 per cent of the non-Malays believed that the concept introduced by Najib after he took over the government was a sincere effort to unite all races in Malaysia.

Some 16 per cent of the non-Malays chose not to respond to the question.

Malaysians were also almost equally divided on the state of national unity with 48 per cent of those surveyed believing that citizens are more united now while 43 per cent believed that the country was more divided.

Comments (71)

lengcai's avatar
lengcai · 1 day ago
najib only has two options in his administrative, either fulfill his 1st version of 1Malaysia agenda, or put his head on the chopping block, to be chopped off by umno contractors which carries the majority among the umno central committees.
In another 6 months time, the gomen will be shocked to learn that 80% of the Malays felt that indiscrimate policies and extremist comments from likes of Perkasa are a major threat to national unity.
Malaysia Boleh's 
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Malaysia Boleh · 1 day ago
Dear Malay Brothers,we have to wake up now.Our Indian and Chinese brothers have woke up.We cannot be the last everytime.Its now or never. The longer we trust the UMNO putras, the more richer they get, and the more sucker we become.
3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
A very simple statement without any religious, race or colour element. I fully agree with Malaysia Boleh statement and add furhter by saying that time is runnig short even to fullfill this.
Many Malays (specially the older generation) are still supporting UMNO, may be they see that all these years Malaysia has progress a lot, and many Bumi have become better off socio-economically. But, they may not see that actually without UMNO and the NEP, Malaysia of all race and social classes can be better off compare to now.
They may say, NEP help them to get scholarship... (actually, without the wastage & curruption under the NEP, their children can get better quality of education and much more scholarship)
They may think that with NEP, Malays can get more business opportunities... (actually, without the cronies and wastage under the NEP, they can get more opportunities, not those big projects for the cronies, only the 'kacang' for the ordinary)
They may think that if without UMNO and NEP, Malays will be threatern and loss out in socio-economic development.... (actually, with NEP, the well-connected Malays will be much more richer, the ordinary will left far behind those well-connected....)
>> Malaysia will be far more better off without those UMNOputras and the misused NEP. We will have better quality and free education (even all free till university), more business opp. as the overall economy better, the GDP per capital will be much more higher, better and free public healthcare, better transportation, better house...... .... FOR ALL, including all Malays and bumiputras, not just a few Malays and bumiputras.
Some are born suckers and they deserved to be beggars and would be left out in this competitive world.
The polls only show that our Malay friends are fully aware of what is happening in the country and the world and know exactly what they wanted instead of those rubbish uttered by the politicians.

The UMNOputras are concern once the current priviledge they are enjoying is lost, they are no longer different from the Malays on the street and will have to compete with them. That is why they threatend Najib. Yet Najib with so many history behind him, was pulled by the nose by his deputy as his Deputy has never hide his intention to replace him. Looking for a change in UMNO ? yes, only with the Malays on the street, not the UMNOputras
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
yes Muhyiddin is always waiting for the right time to strike. Mahathir's role from the outside is critical. Once he decides to pour out him venom it would be detrimental to Najib.
amoker's avatar
amoker · 1 day ago
So, what is the overall percentage to the question if NEP helps the poor or rich? Quiet eh?
Well, if goverment wants to unite all races then do it sincerely it will be a happy ending, even in the official identification document (IC) religion of the non malay owner is not stated. For the bumiputra malays is very clearly stated.
logicmind56's 
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logicmind56 · 1 day ago
53 years down the road and one could see who benefits from the governments. Cronies not the ordinary citizens regardless of creeks, colors, religions and so on.

We are going nowhere with this BN government and our only way out are to have a new government. Corruptions, abuse of power, oppression, so on and we are at the lowest point in the dump. Most of us are fed-up with this BN government and even Malaysian's Malay too felt it except those cronies who would not care.

PR must take this opportunities and cleans up its acts fast and bring us out of this BN made dump.

For BN to change for the citizens is no way. "Old habits die hard." As for PR to be elected as a new government, "Opportunities don't come all the time."

"Are we ready!!!!" "Yes, we are ready for a new government."

By the way I am not affiliated to any political parties. I say what I see and feel. That' me.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
the urban Malays are quite open minded. It's the rural malays and the rural folks in sabah n Sarawak that are difficult to be convinced. Their only source of info is from the mainstream electronic and print media. UMNO/BN use scare tactics on them. So out of fear they prefer to maintain status quo no matter how difficult their lives are.
Nasir Arafat's 
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Nasir Arafat · 1 day ago
Orang Melayu kini sudah sedar! What is all this shit of Malay rights and Ketuanan Melayu? They are all bulls to deceive the Malays to vote UMNO Baru. What have the Malays benefitted from the Government after 53 years of independence? Only UMNO putras and cronies benefitted and the Melayu biasa? They are made to work like cows for the UMNO putras.

The non Malays certainly did not make extraordinary demands against the interests of Malays. Show proof, MM and Perkasa! We just do not trust MM and Perkasa and most of all UMNO Baru. Our future and that of Malaysians lies with Pakatan Rakyat, yes, PKR, PAS and DAP. We want change and we must change! The Malays are getting angrier by the day with all the flip flps, so are majority Malaysians. Vote Pakatan!
3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
Aku sokong hujah bro nasir arafat 100%....Hidup Rakyat Malaysia !!! Vote Pakatan !!!
Yes Nasir, we want to move forward. We don't want to be under tempurung for too long. i myself have been asking one question again and again. "Why can't the gomen adopt the policy of helping everybody irrespective of race or religion, based on needs. Politically why are the malays scared. By percentage the malays form ~ 60% of population. So automatically more malays will get help if assistance is given based on needs. So it must be the greedy political UMNOputras and the Froggies like Ibrahim Ali that are spreading all these scare tactic. Their real goal is to protect their own self interest. Not the Malays in general, not the religion, neither the nation.
beautiful understanding,well done brother.
Ishtiaq's avatar
Ishtiaq · 1 day ago
UMNO divides the Malays, into the rich and the poor, UMNO divides the Malays by class, UMNO divides the Malays by political affiliations.

PAS, PKR unite the Malays, PAS, PKR unite all Malaysians to be towering Malaysians to take on the world economically as one Malaysian.

UMNO selalu cakap tak serupa bikin. Malays kini sudah bangkit bersama PKR, PAS dan DAP! Tak nak UMNO/BN. Always make use of Malays for their own greedy selves and we Malays are not going to be so stupid anymore!
3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
OsmethbinLaden's avatar
OsmethbinLaden · 1 day ago
Sokong 100%! UMNO divided the Malays and created the miseries the Malays all over the country are suffering from. Even, scholarships, allocation of assistance, everything is done through political affiliations, not through being a Malay or Muslim.

Malays are ashamed of all the huge corruptions and scandals gaining international attention. We had expected towering Malays to bring good to the country under UMNO, but this is what you see and we get!

53 tahun dah cukup dah! Tak nak UMNO/BN.
Yes Bro Ishtiaq, Malaysian Malays have spoken !!! Hidup Rakyat Malaysia !!!
Yes on the dot Ishtiaq
hapahapa's avatar
hapahapa · 1 day ago
Just as MCA is a party of businessmen, UMNO is a party of contractors. Combined, we ordinary Malaysia suffers.
Anandan's avatar
Anandan · 1 day ago
From the above survey, Najib's popularity is still 72% or 27%? If he trusts Merdeka Review's survey, he would have called for a snap election.

Somehow he has a feel that if he calls for a snap election, it would be suicidal. Hidup Rakyat! Hidup Pakatan! Hancur UMNO.
joe ngang's 
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joe ngang · 1 day ago
dont think the malays are stupid..... malays came together in 1999 GE only to be denied by the non-malays votes...if not it would have been different now...
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
RPK has did some analysis in this.
He shows that PKR has won popular vote!
Steven Ong's 
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Steven Ong · 1 day ago
The increasing divides among the Malays is a good sign that the Malays are beginning to be aware of their rights and the rights of others. Its not a sign of disunity but a sign to the Malays moving towards righteousness and fairness.
The process is complete when there are no more Malays , Chinese or Indians or others but only Malaysians .
Praise be to God.
Let us wake up and to know that we Malaysian are One Nation and One Race. Does the world picture us as Malaysian or bumiputeras, chinese, indian, kadazans, etc. After 50 over years of independence, we still fight among ourselves to champion one race like malay, chinese, indian and etc. Can't our politicans now concentrate and serve the people and achieve goals which was promised and set by the government of the day.
Anak Kubang Pasu's
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Anak Kubang Pasu · 1 day ago
Divided in opinion but divided in loyalty to the country. Loyalty to the country does not mean loyalty to UMNO ! Most educated Malays hate UMNO to the core. Some just could not wait to end the life of UMNO soonest due to its cancerous corruption.
Millionaire Malay contractors sending their sons overseas to England or US and getting discount for their bungalows have always been points of contention whenever NEP/DEB is concerned among non-Bumis.

Now, it seems average Malays are also getting riled up watching their fellow Datuks and Khir Toyos spending big bucks like drinking water while shouting about safe-guarding the Malay ''Rights''.
2 replies · active 1 day ago
please explain to the rural folks, thank you.
Puasa coming soon, then the balik kampung rush. I am sure ideas from the urban cities from well-read and well-informed urban dwellers will pass on to the rural folks. It will be slow but steady process.
tan hai lee's avatar
tan hai lee · 1 day ago
Ask Mr. Futuyma the famous Antropologist.
We are all Mongoloids or Mongolian origin, esp those from eastern Ganges upto south east asia.
We only divide by language, so where got other divide?
Let us all be one Mongolian.
KL 7310's avatar
KL 7310 · 1 day ago
Open your eyes and see the massive corruptions in BN. Despite being an oil producing country, we now don't have enough money to sustain ourselves. GST, subsidies cuts, betting license, all point to attempts to raise money by the government to fill up our half empty treasury. Wake up before all our money are sucked dry by corrupt politicians.
malaysmartvoter's 
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malaysmartvoter · 1 day ago
Educated Malays are not so stupid anymore listening to BN/UMNO rhetorics and sandiwara!!! Those that are still sleeping will one day wake up like the educated ones to make malaysia a better place for Malay!
lowxinpui's 
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lowxinpui · 1 day ago
Under Pakatan Rakyat, all the deserving Malays will benefit. Not UMNO Malays, nepotics, cronies.
GunaOtak101's 
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GunaOtak101 · 1 day ago
"70 per cent — felt that corruption among the community's leaders was the main threat to the Malay/Bumiputera political position as opposed to "demands made by other races in the country"

No wonder Ibrahim Ali & Dr. M are trying to sound important & relevant to the Malays over the last few months. They are the problem, not the solution.
2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
That's their only purpose for maintaining the malay rights
During the 22 years as PM, Mahathir allowed and even facilitated corruption to become part of the Malaysian culture, a Malaysian way of life. He turned a blind eye to corruption that took place right under his nose and protected corrupt senior UMNO leaders. He is undoubtedly the Father of Corruption.
Lim Chien Seong's 
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Lim Chien Seong · 1 day ago
"The poll by the independent Merdeka Center released today also found a majority of Malays surveyed — 70 per cent — felt that corruption among the community's leaders was the main threat to the Malay/Bumiputera political position as opposed to "demands made by other races in the country."

As a Malaysian; I can accept a leadership that is honest, fair and transparent. I will give my full support to a Prime Minister who demonstrate these qualities; regardless of his/her skin color, religion, etc. Look at Selangor, Khalid Ibrahim's leadership subsidizes water bills of all Rakyat, for this he deserves our full support.

On the other hand, the currupt Khir Toyo, Ling Leong Sik, Samy, etc etc etc deserve to be locked up; regardless of their skin color, religion, etc.
Cik_CT's avatar
Cik_CT · 1 day ago
Every poor deserving Malaysian should be helped. By virtue of numbers (and with the claim of Malays being the largest group of poor); that means most of the help goes to Malays; but Malays who need it! Not the UMNO cronies; or rich folks who own multimillion houses (at bumiputra discount) who send their kids to UK on PSD scolarship, get the AP license, grab contracts and sell it to their MCA towkay crony, etc.

Malaysia can only be saved from this mis-governance if the Malays want better governance. If not in another 20 years this blessed country will become impoverished and its young will grow up to be maids in other countries! Save Malaysia! Vote out this BN govt!
2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
Agree with you cik CT
please help those most deserved group.....they are our brother and sister.
You don't want to see them suffer any longer.
yes.....if nothing is changed soon.
majority of our next generation girls will send to china/taiwan/singapore/HK to
become maid! Boys will work in the construction/manufaturing cheap/high risk
unwanted jobs oversea. A very good look at Indonesia and Philipine now and 20 years ago.
I am sure you can observe the similarity between them and us. Don't you?
Isa Rahim's 
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Isa Rahim · 1 day ago
Take note that this Merdeka Centre is an UMNO controlled entity. So take their statements with at least with a dozen pinches of salt.
lalaman's avatar
lalaman · 1 day ago
Don't need to comment/talk so much la....just get urself registered and cast your votes accordingly when the time comes. In the mean time, don't be a hippocrite by supporting corruption when stopped for a traffic offence, work honest & hard for your dough, and be less political about every issue. Its a sheer waste of time and money to some issues repeated over and over again.

If you can't do that, don't expect/ preach your "leaders" to do so. Remember, the change starts from your own self, not by posting comments during lunchtime break.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Very apt advice there. More to action and less to talk. However if all the MI readers are silent and don't post their opinions, then this website is like all the other newspaper online sites, boring and dull.
Eti Soppo's 
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Eti Soppo · 1 day ago
If the poll result is unbiased and is assumed to reflect the actual scenario going forward, GE13 is going to be interesting since neither BN nor PR is strong enough to getting majority support. A weak government will not be beneficial to the country's development.
Logic Think's 
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Logic Think · 1 day ago
All we ask for is something that universal human rights of any country, any race will support. That is, "Only he that work will get to eat". Simple idea isn't it?

However the Umnoputras want it the other way around, those who do not work, but only sign a document get to eat the Lion's share while those who work, remain as the coolie. Sounds like the 16th century..... too bad.... how to 1Malaysia???

Can somone answer me - ie those who still believe in the present government?
2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
Transparent's avatar
Transparent · 22 hours ago
If those who apply for work/tender do not pay anything to these people then thw whole corruption will stop forever because it can never work one sided. But those who greed still pay to these people just to get the contract and by virtue of giving you are actually supporting them and of course no different from them as well or maybe worst than them!
Easier said than done, my friend, easier said than done. Tell me, why in the first place all the tender/work are given to contractors of one party only? If you can understand it, then you will know why those ''other'' contractors who apply for tender/work have to ''do'' something to get the job.
MeorUSA's avatar
MeorUSA · 1 day ago
anybody can demerit UMNO. Polls cannot dehumanised Malays.
Action speak louder...for the rich or poor Malays. You can polls (as you please)the results but you cannot polls the intentions.
Haiyaa, why don't they votes for the opinion polls in favor of the government so that BN will conduct snap election soon. The faster they die lor....
This so-called Malay rights stuff is to intimidate the Malay rather than helping them. Only the handicapped needs extra help in order to survive. While all the non-Malay can survive without any special right, why can't the Malay do it as well? I am sure they are well capable of doing what others can do. Those UMNO cronies are so used to receiving special treatment and they are scared of change. Therefore, they brainwash other Malays to follow them. Please my fellow Malaysian, stop using Malay, Chinese or Indian. We are one big family and should only be addressed as Malaysian. The more 1Malaysian slogan is mentioned, the more I feel there is gap among us. Wake up Malaysian! Whether you are originally from this land or not, every citizen needs to contribute and gain from the community.
2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
Very very well said.
Don't you see? Malays are being told daily that they cannot compete, they will die off, Chinese and Indian will eat their lunch, Malays are stupid, lazy, illiterate, cannot speak English ... Sooner or later, Malays either believe this, or they get fed up being told this! That's the reason the polls are divided!
kathirvel's 
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kathirvel · 1 day ago
The Malaysian Government has been promoting Malay Contractors - for almost all types of products and services that the government uses or needs. This has been going on for fifty years. Any reasonably intelligent person can take advantage of these policies and profit from it without much sweat. Their percentage and the percentage for the patrons are all properly calculated and included in the contracts at the expense of the taxpayer, Other citizens also suffer because their money is eaten away by these contractors.

Having tasted once, these contractors come back for more and more - it is easy money.

What has all these done for the Malays? Yes, a small group of Malays have become filthy rich at the expense of the people.

Has this policy created a community of contractors who can go out and compete in the open market for jobs and services. Simply look around and ask how many rish or for that matter less rich Malays engage Malay contractors to construct their bigand small palaces or even doing small repair jobs to their houses.

All government IT contracts goes to Malays. Go to any of the shopping malls - and who is the one supplying computer equipment and supplies? One might find some Malay suppliers in small towns and villages where others do not want to venture.

One would have expected that since the government contracts has an almost guaranteed profit, they can take risks and build their businesses for open competition. It does not happen.

From the day Malay children start school, they learn very quickly that the government is there to look after them right up the grave. They only look to government for employment. Private sector is all too difficult for them.

UMNO has very successfully created a community that is and will be for ever dependent on government. And they also control their thinking process - do not ask anything - just accept and do what UMNO wants.

Just look at the following two reports in the columns today. This is the tip of the iceberg of how contractors want to and will continue to rape the Malaysian government under Malaysian polices.

# High Court to hear petition to shutter royal-owned contractor
# Ex-contractor loses RM480m suit against defence ministry.

This is what PERKASA Ibrahim and Mahathir like to perpetuate. Keep on giving additional crutches and make them ever more dependent so that they and their children can rule for ever.

The Malays will never learn to compete and be self reliant in this world. The children will have to learn this right from school and learn how the Chinese and Indians think and do things.

After fifty years - how many Malay contractors are there who can .
Hello Merdeka x Center.

How do you correlate what you write now with the recent 72% popularity of Najib? Are you implying that the general public is fickle minded, volatile and hence can change their minds in just 2 weeks?

No, the general public reads your minds very well. They've already come to the conclusion that Merdeka x Center must be full of morons.
As a young educated malay, I say no to all this affirmative action nonsense, no to this Ketuanan Melayu garbage, and no to NEP . There is nothing attractive about any of the above.

I know too many of my generation who were given good jobs, based on near zero qualifications, only to fail miserably at putting any added value into their positions/careers. This is the true face of the NEP: lazy malays, who just barely pass their exams, and through their relatives on the board of Company ABC or XYZ, often get the jobs other more deserving Malaysians should have gotten.

If this is the end product of 'affirmative action', then I'll tell u now, if it continues, the entire country will go back to the dark ages within the next 50 years. All it has bred so far is unproductive malays addicted to handouts. Do we all want your kids to be unproductive clueless zombies? I certainly don't
2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
Agree with you Hardy
Many others will be happy to work among the Malay graduates you mentioned, for all they have to do is to laze around with them, and get their paycheck at the end of the month by just sitting around updating facebook/msn. This is the ultimate drug UMNO prescribed to the Malays, either by downgrading their abilities or promoting the ''glamour'' of Rempits.
Remember Projek Mat Cemerlang?
anak Malaysia's 
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anak Malaysia · 23 hours ago
Malaysia is crush by rampant corruption nowaday.. every single project cost bilions of Ringgit.. even widen up the LRT can cost more than 10Bilion ringgit.. how can it be reasonable? Where is our rakyat tax money being spend? Our hard-earned taxed money being wasted by corruption. I wonder if our UMNO/BN leader still practise selfish attitude twd corruption, then I really bet our beloved M'sia will go to bankrupt for sure.. not till 2019.. mayb much earlier than this..
Transparent's 
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Transparent · 22 hours ago
If the pool result show that everyone happy with Najib reforms then we do not need PR. Of course there are always some people are happy and some are depending on what you get and what you fight. Conslusion can be made that no Govt can say they have done the best as the Opposition will always creating some issues. That's politic! It's always a cycle but only in Malaysia the cycle has yet to happen. As a result those in Opposition were not happy because they have yet to govern and take "some" advantage for "their" future and not the Malaysian!
Merdeka centre is so half full. Malays are not divided, they are growing mature.
1Malaysia's 
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1Malaysia · 22 hours ago
What now Umno ? Believe the poll's accuracy or ignore it ? Najib, it's your take ... DO something bloodly GOOD for all Malaysians starting now.
You're the LEADER of Umno.. ( and PM of All Malaysians as you declared not long ago, remember ? ) It's time for you to chop off the heads including deputy ministers & ministers who 'sabotage & never really support ' your 1 Malaysia concept in Umno. Take action against the madman of Perkasa.
Show us you got the guts. Show us you got balls to do it. Show us you really mean it, the 1 Malaysia concept.
If it's merely a political slogan that's hollow, well... just shut up & sit down. Let others who really believe in Malaysian citizen's concept take the job. He must has the guts & ball to do it man!
Need not say more but fully agree with our Malaysian Malay brothers comment above speaks for itselves especially the comments by Malaysia Boleh, Nasir Arafat, Ishtiaq, hapahapa, UtusanReader1 and many others.......Hidup Rakyat Malaysia !!!
nowadays, no money no talk!
many are struggling to survive for their everyday needs.
all the gomen care, collect all the taxes as much as they can, and spends more, instead of helping the rakyat. they spends more to enriched themselves.
kalau tak bayar pelbagai cukai, kena sita, kena saman atau kena penjara.
adakah gomen sekarang pikir pasal rakyat? yang i tahu, mereka hanya mementingkan diri sendiri.
A colorful logo and slogan is not going to help when underling issue remain unaddressed. In this country we have fake CDs, fake Tshirts, fake hanbags, fake softwares, fake money, fake press freedom, fake MACC, fake judiciary, fake police, fake polls, fake election to make fake politicians and they all go well with the fake 1Malaysia theme. So what can we say except to VOTE THEM OUT!
Malaysian of all races and creed, please raise up and make your voice heard in the next election. We all love Malaysia and do not want it to be wasted at the hands of UMNO/BN.

UMNO/BN have been good at dividing Malaysians and this has stagnated our progress as a nation both economically and socially. We can be as good as our southern neighbours or even BETTER!

First task now is to get ready to kick this UMNO/BN govt. out!
errr....this poll is lim kok wing's...ha ha ha...
UMNO telah memperbodohkan rakyat selama ini. Dan Melayu Baru mesti bangun dan sedar bahawa orang yang kaya adalah orang UMNO yang dekat dengan Najib dan kunchu-kunchu dia.
The Malays are not stupid anymore.They are smarter then the corrupted BN govt.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
not stupid anymore.............pleaselah bro dont insult the brotherhood
vincent tan's 
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vincent tan · 16 hours ago
The government should help the poor Malays, poor Chinese & poor Indians.
Now the government is doing exactly the opposite.
Of course the rich Malays want the affirmative actions to continue to make them richer!!!

Be Fearful of the Market Manipulators

Dealer’s rep sanctioned for false trading, market manipulation

Written by Loong Tse Min
Friday, 09 July 2010 11:06

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd has publicly reprimanded and fined a commissioned dealer’s representative (CDR) of Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd RM100,000 for false trading and market manipulation in the trading of Axis Incorporated Bhd shares.

In a statement yesterday, Bursa Securities said it ordered that Lee Beng Huat be struck off the register, if he was still a registered person of the exchange.

The exchange said Lee had carried out false trading and market manipulation involving about 41 million Axis shares, out of the market turnover of 104 million Axis shares, for 87 trading days in 2006 and 2007.

It said during that period, Lee had dealt in Axis shares mainly through the accounts of 10 clients.

“He had entered buy and sell orders which were manipulative in nature and which had led to false or misleading appearance of active trading in, or market for, Axis shares and tantamount to stock market manipulations,” Bursa Securities said, adding that Lee had breached trading rules.

It said the dealing in Axis shares by Lee via the 10 accounts, which were the top buyers and sellers during the period, had several characteristics:
1. Entry of orders which were several bids lower than the last done price with no real intention to have the buy orders matched.


2. Lee also engaged in order splitting, entering a series of buy orders in succession through any one of the 10 accounts with the same price. These buy orders gave rise to and created an impression of continuous demand for Axis shares which led to false or misleading appearance of active demand/market for Axis shares.


3. The buy and sell orders executed in the 10 accounts:
• had cross-trades which were matched among each other for about 12 million units of Axis shares involving Lee as their common CDR;
• resulted in the buy and sell transactions of Axis shares in the 10 accounts without any change to the beneficial ownership of Axis shares (NCBO trades) and during the relevant period, there were 65 NCBO trades involving 385,800 units of Axis shares;
• were frequently matched with the corresponding orders keyed in by another CDR from another broker which indicated that there were some form of pre-arrangements for these trades to be matched;
• resulted in trades which were rolled over periodically with the same or almost the same block of Axis shares which gave rise to the manipulative trading activities; and
had trades which were subsequently amended to other clients’ accounts resulting in a change of the original party to the contract which is not permitted.

Bursa Securities said Lee, by engaging in the manipulations, managed to sell about 72% of the sell orders (40.98 million out of 56.67 million units of sell orders entered for the 10 accounts) and bought about 55% of the buy orders (41.6 million out of 76.14 million units of the 10 accounts’ buy orders).

It said the higher volume and percentage of the buy orders, which were subsequently cancelled and/or lapsed due to the orders being lower than the last done price resulting in lower percentage of buy orders matched, gave an impression of and created an inflated demand for Axis shares.

This, it said, led to a misleading appearance of an active market for Axis shares.

Bursa Securities said Lee had failed to take heed of the concerns raised by the exchange on his irregular trading activities in Axis shares in the 10 accounts but had continued to trade in the irregular and manipulative manner.

This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, July 9, 2010.



Click here for an excellent writeup on this affair:

http://whereiszemoola.blogspot.com/2010/07/stock-manipulation-on-axis-inc-dealer.html

Comment:
Fraud and market manipulation occur in every stock market.  However, in some other countries, for example Singapore and Hong Kong, those who are caught are punished severely.  Alas, in Malaysia, the fine imposed is not even enough to discourage future adventure by potential manipulators.

Understanding The Cash Conversion Cycle

Understanding The Cash Conversion Cycle

by Jim Mueller
The cash conversion cycle (CCC) is one of several measures of management effectiveness. It measures how fast a company can convert cash on hand into even more cash on hand. The CCC does this by following the cash as it is first converted into inventory and accounts payable (AP), through sales and accounts receivable (AR), and then back into cash. Generally, the lower this number is, the better for the company. Although it should be combined with other metrics (such as return on equity and return on assets) it can be especially useful for comparing close competitors because the company with the lowest CCC is often the one with better management. In this article, we'll explain how CCC works and show you how to use it to evaluate potential investments. 
What Is It?
The CCC is a combination of several activity ratios involving accounts receivable, accounts payable and 
inventory turnover. AR and inventory are short-term assets, while AP is aliability; all of these ratios are found on the balance sheet. In essence, the ratios indicate how efficiently management is using short-term assets and liabilities to generate cash. This allows an investor to gauge the overall health of the company. (For further reading, see Reading The Balance Sheet andIntroduction To Fundamental Analysis: The Balance Sheet.)

How do these ratios relate to business? If the company sells what people want to buy, cash cycles through the business quickly. If management cannot figure out what sells, the CCC slows down. For instance, if too much
inventory builds up, cash is tied up in goods that cannot be sold - this is not good news for the company. In order to move out this inventory quickly, management might have to slash prices, possibly selling its product at a loss. If AR is handled poorly, it means that the company is having difficulty collecting payment from customers. This is because AR is essentially a loan to the customer, so the company loses out whenever customers delay payment. The longer a company has to wait to be paid, the longer that money is unavailable for investment elsewhere. On the other hand, the company benefits by slowing down payment of AP to its suppliers, because that allows the company to make use of the money for longer. (To learn more, read Measuring Company Efficiency and Understanding The Time Value Of Money.) 




The Calculation
To calculate CCC, you need several items from the financial statements:
  • Revenue and cost of goods sold (COGS) from the income statement
  • Inventory at the beginning and end of the time period
  • AR at the beginning and end of the time period
  • AP at the beginning and end of the time period
  • The number of days in the period (year = 365 days, quarter = 90)


    Inventory, AR and AP are found on two different balance sheets. If the period is a quarter, then use the balance sheets for the quarter in question and the ones from the preceding period. For a period of a year, use the balance sheets for the quarter (or year end) in question and the one from the same quarter a year earlier.

    This is because, while the 
    income statement covers everything that happened over a certain period of time, balance sheets are only snapshots of what the company was like at a particular moment in time. For things like AP, you want an average over the period of time you are investigating, which means that AP from both the time period's end and beginning are needed for the calculation.

    Now that you have some background on what goes into calculating CCC, let's take a look at the formula:



    CCC = DIO + DSO - DPO

    Let's look at each component and how it relates to the business activities discussed above.Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO): This addresses the question of how many days it takes to sell the entire inventory. The smaller this number is, the better.


    DIO = Average inventory/COGS per day
    Average Inventory = (beginning inventory + ending inventory)/2

    Days Sales Outstanding (DSO): This looks at the number of days needed to collect on sales and involves AR. While cash-only sales have a DSO of zero, people do use credit extended by the company, so this number is going to be positive. Again, smaller is better.


    DSO = Average AR / Revenue per day
    Average 
    AR= (beginning AR + ending AR)/2

    Days Payable Outstanding (DPO): This involves the company's payment of its own bills or AP. If this can be maximized, the company holds onto cash longer, maximizing its investment potential; therefore, a longer DPO is better.


    DPO = Average AP / COGS per day
    Average AP = (beginning AP + ending AP)/2

    Notice that DIO, DSO and DPO are all paired with the appropriate term from the income statement, either revenue or COGS. Inventory and AP are paired with COGS, while AR is paired with revenue.
    Practical ApplicationLet's use some real numbers from a retailer as an example to work through. The data below is from Barnes & Noble's 10-K reports filed for the fiscal years ending January 28, 2006 (fiscal year 2005) and January 29, 2005 (fiscal year 2004). All numbers are in millions of dollars.


    Item
    Fiscal Year 2005Fiscal Year 2004
    Revenue5103.0Not needed
    COGS3533.0Not needed
    Inventory1314.01274.6
    A/R99.191.5
    A/P828.8745.1
    Average Inventory( 1314.0 + 1274.6 ) / 2 = 1294.3
    Average AR( 99.1 + 91.5 ) / 2 = 95.3
    Average AP( 828.8 + 745.1 ) / 2 = 787.0

    Now, using the above formulas, CCC is calculated:




    DIO = $1294.3 / ($3533.0 / 365 days) = 133.7 days
    DSO = $95.3 / ($5103.0 / 365 days) = 6.8 days
    DPO = $787.0 / ($3533.0 / 365 days) = 81.3 days
    CCC = 133.7 + 6.8 - 81.3 = 59.2 days



    What Now?
    As a stand alone number, CCC doesn't mean very much. Instead, it should be used to track a company over time and to compare the company to its competitors.

    When tracking over time, determine CCC over several years and look for an improvement or worsening of the value. For instance, for fiscal year 2004, Barnes & Noble's CCC was 68.9 days, so the company has shown an improvement between the ends of fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2005. Barnes & Noble achieved this improvement by decreasing DIO by 4.5 days, increasing DSO by 1.5 days and increasing DPO by 6.7 days. While between these two years the change is good, the slight increase in DSO might merit more investigation, such as looking further back in time. CCC changes should be examined over several years to get the best sense of how things are changing.

    CCC should also be calculated for the same time periods for the company's competitors, such as Borders Group and Amazon.com. For fiscal year 2005, Borders' CCC was 101.2 days (168.4 + 12.0 - 79.2). Compared to Borders Group, Barnes & Noble is doing a better job at moving inventory (lower DIO), is quicker at collecting what it is owed (lower DSO) and keeps its own money a bit longer (higher DPO). Remember, however, that CCC should not be the only metric used to evaluate either the company or the management; 
    return on equityand return on assets are also valuable tools for determining the effectiveness of management. (For more insight, check out Keep Your Eyes On The ROEUnderstanding The Subtleties Of ROA Vs. ROE and ROA On The Way.) 

    Interestingly, Amazon's CCC for the same period is 
    negative,coming in at -31.2 days (29.6 + 10.2 - 71). This means that Amazon doesn't pay its suppliers for the books that it buys until after it receives payment for selling those books; therefore, Amazon doesn't have a need to hold very much inventory and still hold onto its money for a longer period of time. Although online retailers have this advantage, there are other issues that keep Borders and Barnes & Noble in the game. After all, you cannot curl up in those comfortable chairs with a fresh latte at Amazon - despite Amazon's success, there is still something to be said for the experience of going to a bookstore.





    Wrapping It Up
    The cash conversion cycle is one of several tools that can help you evaluate management, especially if it is calculated for several consecutive time periods and for several competitors. Decreasing or steady CCCs are good, while rising ones should motivate you to dig a bit deeper.

    CCC is most effective with retail-type companies, which have inventories that are sold to customers. Consulting businesses, software companies and insurance companies are all examples of companies for whom this metric is meaningless. 


    For additional reading, see 
    Using The Cash Conversion Cycle and Cash 22: Is It Bad To Have Too Much Of A Good Thing?
     


    by Jim Mueller
    Jim Mueller started his career as a scientist, earning his advanced degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Washington State University. He has since become a self-taught investor and financial writer. He is also a regular contributor to The Motley Fool.


    Also read:
    Cash Conversion Cycle
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_conversion_cycle


    Tuesday, 13 July 2010

    THERE are many different types of investors. Here are 10. Maybe you can spot yourself.

    Many types make up the world of share trading
    June 26, 2010

    THERE are many different types of investors. Here are 10. Maybe you can spot yourself.

    The Plodder This is your goody two-shoes investor. Holds a portfolio of long-term stocks. Out of 20 stocks bought for $50,000 each, all are worth $60,000 except for Telstra ($30,000) and the banks ($100,000 each). Carved out of the annals of financial theory. Focuses on franking. Quotes Warren Buffet.

    Banks are 40 per cent of the portfolio because he got them in the float and never sold them. Never trades. Never sells. Is appropriately inattentive. Wishes he'd sold Telstra.

    The fear of losing money to the Tax Office through capital gains has driven spectacular long-term annual compound returns and ensured an absolute belting in the global financial crisis.

    But it doesn't matter because everything was bought for 10¢. Will leave millions to his undeserving children, who will cash it all in and live like kings.

    The Gambler Thinks the sharemarket is everything the product marketers say it is and is quickly skinned alive in some derivative product he didn't understand.

    The 10-Bet Investor Has 20 stocks bought for $50,000 each. Two stocks have gone to zero. Sixteen are worth between $45,000 and $55,000. One stock is worth $200,000. One stock is worth $2 million. Focus on resources exploration, biotechs and new issues. No banks. No big blue chips. No yield. This is organised gambling where the odds are narrowed by a lot of work, information and networking.

    The "Blind and in Love" Investor Has $1 million and it is all in one stock. Next year it will be worth anything between zero and $10 million. This is the investor who knows absolutely everything about a stock of which you've never heard.

    Is in the top 20 shareholders. The first holding cost less than a cent. Loses more than your mortgage on a 1¢ move and it moves 2¢ a day.

    Doesn't sell on the spikes. Doesn't sell on the troughs. This is long-term, high-risk investment, but they know all the risks. Talks about the stock, and is very rich, or very poor. They ring you up when they're 60 either to (a) borrow money or (b) invite you to join them in the Bahamas.

    The Day Trader If he has $1000 he has one stock worth $100,000, but he has to sell by the end of the day. Pays the average salary in dealing costs every year. High attrition rate. Only the devoted survive.

    The Income Investor Through necessity or tradition is investing in equities for income. Made huge losses in the financial crisis having never sold "as long as they still pay the dividend". Has now learnt that $1 of income is exactly the same as $1 of capital, especially when it is a capital loss.

    Hates the volatility. Wishes things would "just go back to the way they were". Is now thinking that 5 per cent in bonds isn't bad just so long as you can sleep at night.

    The Value Investor Makes long-term declarations about stocks based on historic information and grand assumptions. Can explain everything but cannot trade and is useless at timing. Needs 50 years to prove he is right. Usually is.

    The Lone Ranger An amateur trader who has given up his day job to trade the sharemarket. Will survive until he runs out of money or wakes up to the fact that trying to make $1000 a day out of necessity, even if successful, is a difficult, tough, demanding, soulless and ultimately boring existence.

    The One-Stock Trader Has worked out that diversification is for people who don't know what they're doing and a lot more risky that trading one stock again and again and again. Does it quite well. Is vulnerable to once-in-a-lifetime events that seem to happen once a year.

    The ETF Trader After many years trying to trade stocks has finally realised that his nirvana is trading the market through an index ETF. No need to read any research about stocks. No need to read 99 per cent of the business section.

    All that matters is timing the market, which he does through vigilance and a combination of technical and fundamental "feel". He is relaxed. Has realistic expectations and trades just five times a year.

    Who did I miss?

    Marcus Padley is a stockbroker with Patersons Securities and the author of the daily stockmarket newsletter Marcus Today. For a free trial of the Marcus Today newsletter please go to marcustoday.com.au

    Source: The Age

    Hard choices as China's boom fades

    Hard choices as China's boom fades
    July 13, 2010

    Australia's export prices remain about as good as they have been in a century, but the peak is now behind us. What we have seen in the past few years is as good as it will get.

    Last week alone iron ore spot prices fell 9.4 per cent and Brazil-China freight prices fell 20 per cent. China's trade figures showed iron ore imports fell 14 per cent last month, measured year-on-year, after rising an average 8.4 per cent each month until May.

    Given that China bought 70 per cent of the world's iron ore exports last year, and Australia's iron ore exports this year will be worth about $US50 billion, it is not hard to see that the huge Chinese tail wind for Australia's national income is no longer blowing like it was.

    The underlying reason for Australia's once-in-a century resources boom was that China's heavy industry sector has been growing much faster than its overall economy. The boom was inflated by distortions in the economy linked to China's hybrid market-authoritarian form of government.

    Now a series of command-economy edicts has flipped this pattern around. Steel production has been falling in absolute terms for two months and the rate of decline accelerated through June. That was despite a surge in exports as mills pocketed export rebates before they are scrapped today.

    Over the coming decade the trend in Chinese resource consumption - and therefore Australian national income - will be determined partly by consumer and investor preferences. But the aggregate of those private choices will be trammelled by policy and political choices that the Chinese leadership will either face or evade.

    Many of those challenges will be outlined tomorrow at the Australian National University's China Update conference. Zhongxiang Zhang will look at China's efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption, and its equally serious challenges. Last year China installed more wind power turbines than any other nation. And yet, in the first quarter of this year, 60 per cent of wind power generation capacity was wasted because it was not hooked up to the grid.

    Huang Yiping will look at the price distortions that fed China's heavy industry boom, including cheap industrial land, cheap energy and cheap capital.

    Huw McKay and Ligang Song will calculate how China's per capita steel consumption could peak earlier and at a higher rate than previously assumed - at double the present rate of consumption in little over a decade.

    However, for my money these policy debates will be swamped in coming years by the core question of whether and how a one-party state can make itself accountable.

    Over-construction will continue so long as officials receive great financial incentives and few political and legal disincentives against bribery and stealing land. State-dominated heavy industry will continue to over-produce so long as the services sector is stunted by politically powerful state monopolies.

    That is why Yongsheng Zhang, at the State Council's Development Research Centre, will tomorrow tackle the question of whether local officials can ever be held accountable to their people when they are appointed from above.

    And Yang Yao, the director of Peking University's China Centre for Economic Research, goes even more directly to the heart of things. He writes that the key to China's reform-era success is that the party did not allow policy to be hijacked by special interest groups at the expense of other sectors of the population. But that is now changing, as cadres meld seamlessly into the world of crony capitalism.

    ''While the private business community is realising the importance of cultivating the government for larger profits, it is the government itself, its cronies and government controlled [state owned enterprises] that are quickly forming strong and exclusive interest groups,'' he writes.

    ''All this suggests that some form of explicit political transition will be necessary to counterbalance the formation of strong and exclusive interest groups. The Chinese Communist Party must soon realise that there is no alternative to fuller democratisation if it wishes to maintain both high economic growth and enhance social stability.''

    Time to be realistic about bank investments

    Time to be realistic about bank investments
    JOHN WASILIEV
    July 13, 2010 - 1:12PM

    Most long-term investors own shares in at least one, two or even more banks in their share portfolios. With solid dividends and the potential for capital gains if you buy when markets are going through a down period, banks are well worth taking an interest in.

    While the outlook for them is considered to be positive and most financial commentators point to how well Australian banks have survived the global financial crisis, one investment expert cautions that investors should not get too carried with expectations for bank investments.

    It’s still a tough market out there for banks, warns John Abernethy, chief investment officer with the Clime Investments StockVal share investing research service. Although they may appear to be quite complex, from a fundamental perspective banks are relatively simple businesses to understand. For such major multi-billion dollar enterprises, they have remarkably few moving parts.

    A bank generates its income from three main sources.
    1. There is the net interest rate difference between what it earns on loans and what it pays for deposits. 
    2. There are the extra fees it charges for various services and 
    3. there is the profit it earns from other activities like running a stockbroking division, a funds management business and offering services to customers like helping them with foreign exchange transactions. 
    Banks can also be involved as active traders in financial markets.
    As far as the income they earn is concerned, Mr Abernethy says this is generally about 3 per cent of the value of the multi billion dollars of assets for which they are responsible.
    1. About 2.4 per cent of this 3 per cent comes from interest income and 
    2. about 0.6 per cent from fees and other income.

    From this it pays running expenses that reduce the income on total assets to about 2 per cent. The other major cost is allowing for bad debts, which can arise from people not being able to pay their interest as well as from losses on bank business enterprises.

    These expenses can range widely from 0.2 per cent of assets when times are good to more than 1 per cent during bad times. Last but not least is tax which reduces any net income by 30 per cent.

    From these basic observations, the major challenge banks currently face comes from bad debts.

    An important issue for Australian banks, says Abernethy, is the growing level of Australian household debt. At present, Australian households owe $1.3 trillion, which is slightly more than the $1.2 trillion of total superannuation savings and equal to the annual value of all the goods and services Australia produces. A trillion dollars is $1000 billion.

    Compared to the income households earn, the debt is 50 per cent more, or 150 per cent of income. As a percentage of income, Australia has one of the highest levels of debt in the world, says Abernethy.

    From a bank perspective one major problem this creates is households not having the money to deposit with banks that banks can in turn lend to households and businesses wanting to borrow.

    This is forcing Australian banks to seek money from offshore investors in places like Europe, America and Asia to keep the all important business of lending money for interest income going. There is a lot of demand at the present time for deposits, which is causing interest rates to increase. Abernethy believes the Reserve Bank of Australia doesn’t really need to keep increasing interest rates. It is already happening because banks have to pay higher interest to overseas lenders.

    For investors in bank shares, the considerations include further rises in interest rates that could put pressure on already heavily indebted households and lead to higher bad debts. Any problems getting money from overseas will also affect banks because they won’t be able to lend money as freely and therefore earn interest profits. This suggests banks may not be as profitable as they were prior to the global economic problems for quite some time.