|
By LIM SUE GOAN, Sin Chew Daily We have to be a little smarter during the financial market turmoil as we may suffer great losses in such a fast changing market condition.
A few stories tell us that we must treasure precious capital and it is not funny at all to become an upstart. Story 1: F1 Grand Pix can be held without spending much Singapore is currently holding the world's first F1 night race. The cost-effective race brings more than S$100 million tourism revenue, as well as winning the country a very good public praise. The race is held on street circuit and Singapore spent only S$40 million for maintenance stations. But 10 years ago, Malaysia had spent RM286 million to build a circuit and we must spend money monthly for maintenance and from time to time, money have to be spent on renovations. | "You sold it with a cheap price but others bought it at a high price?" | If we had thought of organising the race on street circuit, Putrajaya would be as good as Singapore since it has beautiful artificial lakes, huge bridges and broad roads. Sometimes, if we can consider deeper, we can gain great return with small investment. Story 2: To act only on the right time After the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis, Maybank in March made an announcement to buy a 55.5% stake in Bank International Indonesia (BII) from Temasek and South Korea's Kookmin Bank for RM4.8 billion. It then offered a comprehensive purchase with the estimated total transaction price of RM8.7 billion, which was almost twice higher than the market price. The Central Bank of Malaysia has rejected the acquisition to protect Maybank, causing Maybank to lose RM570 million deposit. And if the acquisition is approved, Maybank would have to suffer the total loss amounted to RM4.3 billion. Temasek is smart in doing business as it has long been investing globally. Meanwhile, the Maybank's failure of its first foreign investment shows the wrong timing and judgement. Story 3: Think carefully before selling Proton spent 70 million Euro to buy heavily indebted Italian motorcycle company Mv Agusta but it was sold at 1 Euro later, causing Proton to lose RM800 million. Then, Harley-Davidson of the United States has comprehensively purchased Mv Agusta in July this year with US$109 million (RM350 million). What was going on actually? You sold it with a cheap price but others bought it at a high price? Malaysia has money but it always suffers losses in investments. I think the government should set up a think-tank to research on every investment. (Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE)
 |
The Blogs 
No think-tank committes, please! I tak boleh tahan lagi lol.
Why? Becos it will take RM100 million to staff this think-tank and another RM500 million to maintain it every year. Then there are the additional expenses (another RM200 million) plus auxiliary research teams (RM100 million), breakfast (RM10 million), lunch (RM25 million), dinner (RM50 million), supper (RM75 million), utensils (RM25 million), etc etc etc
Then they will probably go out and lose all our money anyway.....