The previous guy is a bad poker player ...

Just as I was elated at the prospect of Malaysia becoming an oil power to rival some of the countries in the Middle East, I was dismayed by Mahathir's revelation recently that, sometime ago, Malaysia gave up its rights to explore an oilfield containing oil worth some RM 320 billion in exchange for getting Brunei to give up its claim on Limbang.

Well, well, well ...

Brunei said that they had not given up on Limbang but Malaysia had already given up the 2 prospecting blocks, Block L and M, within the country's jurisdiction. So, the country lost on both counts.

The situation was exactly similar to the crooked bridge fiasco in which, so scared was the previous guy of threats from Lee Kuan Yew, that he gave up the idea of building a bridge to replace the causeway when it was within the country's jurisdiction to do so. In the end, the country had to compensate the contractor for cancelling the contract by an amount equal to the cost of the bridge. Malaysia had to pay for something that does not exist. Worse still, Malaysia had to pay for the CIQ complex (built earlier) which was part of the crooked bridge system.

Then another instance was the idea to levy a fee on foreign cars entering the country especially from Singapore. Why shouldn't Singaporean motorists pay for driving on good Malaysian roads and fill up their cars with fuel subsidised for the Malaysian vehicles. When Malaysians use their cars in Singapore, they have to pay a hefty levy to enter Singapore. If the other way round, a Singaporean motorist pays RM 2.00, which is a mere S $ 0.80. So, the idea of charging Singaporean motorists say RM 50.00-100.00 per entry is a good one. At least the amount could go towards compensating Malaysia for the disparity in prices of fuel between the 2 countries.

But no, the previous guy was supposed to implement the levy system sometime ago. It was postponed to another month, then another and another and finally it was silently scrapped altogether. Of course, he was met with objections such as no more tourists from Singapore, less business for the Johore Baharu traders, less hotel occupancies in Johore or Melaka, and so on and on endlessly.

What bloody nonsense ! There are always complaints when you introduce something. The people have to accept it especially if it's for the general good. The truth is someone is scared of someone else. Scared of the hassle in arguing your case, or scared of litigation and publicity, and even scared of threats of war - which are imagined at best.

It's a relief that that guy is now no more in power. Good riddance !

Update 03/05/2010: To get out of an embarassing situation, Najib had to explain that all was not lost because there were exchanges of letters between Malaysia and Brunei regarding the favourable situation with regard to Limbang, and that Brunei had invited Petronas to explore for oil in the 2 blocks. What a farce !

Serve the Greeks right ....

Greece's deficit for year 2009 has been revised upwards to 13.9 % of its GDP from a previous figure of 12.6%. Because of this, one rating agency, has dubbed the Greek credit rating as junk. Who wants to lend to a country who is unable to pay back its loan.

The trouble with the Greeks is that they are living beyond their means, as though just being in the European union, they think they can live it up with their richer French and German neighbours.

Now, they are going round Europe with hats in hand begging for help and nobody wants to help them without security.

The next country to go the way Greece did is Portugal, followed by Spain, then Sweden and finally Denmark.