Going back to where it was ....

The BNM's IFR as at 15th  April 2008 is RM 390.1 (USD 122) billion. This amount can sustain 9.7 months of imports and 7.2 times the short term external debts. A month ago, it was RM 393.2 or USD 119.1 billion, while the other indices were 9.6 and 6.8 respectively.

Except by the weakening US dollar, there's not much impact of the high crude oil price on BNM's IFR.

Crude oil price, please stop rising ,,,

The latest news on the price of crude oil is now it is USD 118 + per barrel. Now, the news is saying that its because of the weak US dollar. The USD has been weakening from all major and minor currencies for the past few years in tandem with the increase in crude oil price in the same few years.

The reason of course is because the US government has been spending and spending to maintain their wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Prior to these wars, US has been bleeding in the Vietnam war. Now the US wants to take on Iran and possibly North Korea which would mean further weakening of the US dollar and further increasing of the crude oil price to, as some people predicted, as high as USD 200/+ per barrel. This happens for as long as oil transaction is in US dollars.

If, say in 1990, someone predicts that crude oil price will increase to something like a 100+USD per barrel, he will at once be condemned as a lunatic.

We are sharpening our parangs ....

Some people are appealing to the Malaysian government to allow Chin Peng to come back to Sitiawan, Perak where he could die in peace. Some people are saying that he is a patriot, a freedom fighter, who fought to rid Malaya of the British colonialists. Some people are saying that he is a Malaysian citizen and therefore should be allowed to return home. Some people are saying that since Chin Peng is now in his eighties, what can he possibly do to pose a security threat to this country. He can't even get it up, let along lift a rifle. So, what's wrong in letting him in ?

Little do these people know that Chin Peng, or Ong Boon Hua as he really is, is not a Malaysian citizen. Ong Boon Hua is an illegal immigrant from China who, by some quirk of fate, became the Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party at a young age. During the heights of the emergency, he had killed Malays, Chinese, Indians, and others in his fight with the British who double-crossed him for a share of the country that was Malaya. 

When the British left hurriedly in the face of the Japanese onslaught in World War II, the British set up a hotchpotch guerilla force, comprising stranded British soldiers and disgruntled Chinese peasants, to harass the Japanese in their occupation of Malaya. This force, called Force 136, was quietly assisted by plane drops of arms and food. Chin Peng was fighting for the British, never for the country; otherwise he would have fought with the Japanese to completely rid Malaya of the British.

When the Japanese surrendered and the British returned to Malaya, Chin Peng was dismayed to find that he was left out in the running of the country. Feeling betrayed by the British who had promised him a piece of the Malayan cake, he took up arms against them using whatever weapons he got from them. He never fought to free the Malayan people of the British yoke but to introduce the communist regime. He failed in this quest because he never got the cooperation of the Malays who were natives of the country, and he killed many of them. Chin Peng was, and still is, nothing but a terrorist. How can these people now dub him as a nationalist, a patriot, a freedom fighter, when he had killed, maimed, and butchered those who did not cooperate with him.

If he ever comes back at all, a lot of Malays will be sharpening their parangs, and will smoke him out of Sitiawan like the terrorist that he is and exact revenge for the many cruelties he perpetrated on our fathers and grandfathers.

So, Ong Boon Hua, try and come back and we are waiting for you !

Let's forget about the bullet train to Singapore ...

I am glad to hear that YTL's Francis Yeoh  may not get his bullet train project off the ground. I prefer that the double-track project between KL and JB be revived for efficient movement of people and cargo to and fro KL and JB. It is interesting to note that, while being strongly against the causeway being replaced by a bridge, Singapore is strangely silent on the bullet train project. It is as though Singapore is behind YTL to push the Malaysian Government to approve the proposal.

The replacement of the causeway by a bridge has no direct benefit to Singapore. But Malaysia stands to gain by having the bridge. For one, sea-water circulation in the Johore Straits is improved. For another, ships or barges can ply between the two Malaysian ports at Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Pelepas, thus reducing the dependence of Malaysia cargo on Singapore port. And yet for another, in the event of a serious conflict with Singapore doing the attacking, movement of offensive military equipment from Singapore to Johore Baharu is easier on a causeway rather than on a bridge.

Since there's no mention of a double track, I am assuming that the YTL's bullet train is on a one track system. 

While not at all related to bullet trains and such, its also good to hear that the Malaysian space program, that is to say the program of sending a second man into space,  has been shelved or possibly scrapped altogether. The first Malaysian sent to space cost USD 25 milllion. It was part of deal with the Russians  when we purchased Russian Sukkhoi jet fighters. The expenses to send the second man now will have to come from the taxpayers' pockets, and, as far as I am concerned, its not worth to spend that kind of money. There are other better things to do.

Malaysia is a small country that is way below the economic giants such as the US or Russia or Japan who can easily afford to develop rocket science and satellites. Its enough that we have 3 Measat satellites to have control of our space than spend our hard-earned money in programs that would ultimately impoverish us.

Sarawak to be the next rice bowl of Malaysia ...

Just the other day I read about Sarawak planning to increase its paddy cultivation and to be the next rice bowl of Malaysia after Kedah and Perlis. The government is going all out to make Malaysia 100 percent self sufficient in rice. 

First of all why suddenly now that the government realise that Malaysia should not depend so much on imports from Thailand and Vietnam. The current food shortage all over the world or the increase in price of food commodities have raised alarms in the country.

My uncle said that during his school days, he had heard of the Malaysian government, then led by Tunku Abdul Rahman, announcing that once Malaysia got its independence from the British, the country would completely eradicate poverty, stop floods, and make Malaysia  self sufficient in rice. Some 50 plus years later, Malaysia has still not eradicated poverty, nor stop floods which have become an annual affair, and is still importing rice.

I am not going to discuss the flood and poverty situations now as rice is the subject of this blog article. What I know is that we are still importing rice especially from large rice producers such as Thailand and Vietnam. 70 percent of rice consumed in the country comes from local sources while 30 percent are from imports.  Why is there no increase in paddy cultivation ? Are the paddy fields being converted for other development ? Are the people of Malaysia no longer interested in paddy cultivation anymore ? Is the current production unable to cope with the rising population ?

Is there no more land suitable for paddy cultivation to be found in the north of Malaysia especially in Perak, Kedah and Perlis. If this is true, then it makes sense to develop paddy cultivation in the large states of Malaysia like Sarawak, Sabah and Pahang. There is sufficient acreage of  low lands in the 3 states suitable for paddy cultivation. All you need is a good system of irrigation.

The question is, is all this talk to soothe the populace when once before there were a lot of talks of self sufficiency in rice. Will it be another 50 years again when our grandchildren will face rice shortage when Malaysia is still importing 30 percent of its rice from Thailand and Vietnam ?

I for one would like to see Malaysia be self sufficient in important food commodities. Why should we buy cabbages, or brinjals or peanuts from China when we can easily grow them here. The country is so fertile that you can throw a rambutan seed in your backyard to find that in a years time the seed has grown to a full blown rambutan tree !