The Decade that was... 2000 -2009

Many things happened in the decade which is fast drawing  its curtain. I am being selective here and mention only those which I feel significant . The tumultuous decade started off with the Y2K scare which, yes ,you guessed it, just a scare. Millions of dollars were spent to prepare us in Malaysia to face the possible computer havoc. Later some experts said "Damn if we do and damn if we don't". Anyway some IT-related companies laughed all the way to the bank!

Y2K compliant indeed!

The event which changed the world forever took place in 2001, the 9/11 which not only killed innocent people but was further used to justify killing more innocent people. It also saw the making of the worst American president in living memory and the attack on Iraq based on false intelligence as part of the war on terror.

The ensuing years, 2002 and 2003 saw many Arab tourists visiting Malaysia. I used to see many of them in London before 9/11, shopping in major shopping favourites like Harrods, Mark&Spencer, John Lewis and Selfridges. They even have hotels in Bayswater named in Arabic but last year I noticed those hotels have closed down. The trend of Arab tourists' arrivals to Malaysia has endured till today, so now you hear plane arrival/departure announcements in KLIA made in Arabic. Just this month I noticed about 80% of guests having breakfast at a five star hotel in KL were Arabs.You did not see this in the last decade before the new millennium.

On Boxing Day 2004, the great tsunami annihilated about 200,000 people mostly in Aceh, Indonesia and parts of Thailand, Sri Lanka and to a small extent Malaysia. The tsunami triggered by the earthquake on the 9.4 Richter scale off the coast of northern Sumatra. It brought a flurry of multi-million USD in international aids. The devastation was enormous and the tales of survivors were heart-wrenching. But we heard of wealthy celebrities like Formula One Schumacher and moviestars like Jackie Chan and famous singers like Ricky Martin coming forward to contribute some of their personal fortune to help rebuild the devastated areas.

                                                                                  Ricky Martin

The devastation in Bandar Aceh. Only the mosque was left standing.

Other major notable disasters were hurricane Katrina which pummeled New Orleans, Louisiana, in the US in 2006 killing 1800 people with damages estimated to be USD 81 billion, the costliest in American history. And the Szechuan Earthquake in May 2008 killing more than 10,000 people and making more than 500,000 homeless. In 2009, a series of typhoons and floods battering the Philippines causing much misery to its people. In 2009 also saw the deadliest Australian bushfire in South Australia killing more than 170 people and wreaking gargantuan damages to homes and properties. And as I write the volcano Mayon in the Philippines is spewing its lava and set to erupt.

In March 2008, the reigning party which had been governing Malaysia for over 50 years  suffered massive losses in the election. denying its usual comfortable two-third majority. Like the Liberal Democatic party (LDP) in Japan, that lost the election for the first time in 60 years. Somehow these losses planted the seeds of rejuvenation of the nations, just like the bushfires which destroy flora and fauna so that new lives would emerge completing the cycle of life.

It is noteworthy to mention the 2008 Olympics staged by China in August 2008. It was one of the most spectacular openings the world has ever seen on 080808. Though I remember well that the steel prices were at all time high as China was using a lot of it for construction works for the Olympics creating a temporary shortage but long enough for people like me who had to renovate my new house, having to pay almost four times the usual cost!

Then the subprime crisis in US evolving into financial crisis, credit crunch, economic melt-down and global financial disaster in October 2008 wiping out trillion of dollars, affecting people from all walks of life especially in US and Europe. We also felt the impact in Malaysia. I lost more than 20% of my stock market investment. Fortunately I managed to recover more than 10% since March 2009. It was a time of heartache for many people who lost their jobs as demands for goods and services plunged and inter-bank confidence retracted. Hard to believe that it happened as I remember in 2007 one of the advisers to NEAC (National Economic Advisory Commission) in Malaysia was saying that the world was flushed with trillions of dollars! Now we know it was just worthless  bubbles.

The Lehmann Brothers

One of the financial juggernauts which collapsed during the crisis 2008

The year 2009 saw the historic inauguration of the first African American, Barack Obama as the  44th president of America. It never crossed my mind  that I would see this in my lifetime. Thanks to the power of the internet, Obama was able to galvanize the nation fast into believing that CHANGE was what they needed after the disastrous unilateralism and policy on war on terror. The American people and the people of the world were already tired of the war President Bush.

                           President Obama- more articulate, charismatic and multi-lateralist.

Tomorrow is the start of a new day of the year 2010 and the first day of the Decade. Though the stock market has somewhat recovered as shown by the Wall St indices, concerns are still being expressed as to its sustainability. We saw the market short-lived panic last November on Dubai World debt problems as US and other European banks are major subscribers of the bonds issued by the Emirate. Indirectly some ripples would be felt in other parts of the world markets.

The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit (7 to 18 Dec 2009) has come and gone and the world is still divided on their share of carbon. Climate change is the politically correct reference to global warming thought to be have been contributed by carbon emission from various sources. There seems to be no urgency  for united global action as the impact is still on a fear-free scale.

Climate change causing ice in Antarctica to melt jeopardizing the native penguins and raising the sea level with its consequences

Just as the world is enjoying some kind of relative peace, we heard of a person who is bent on killing innocent people by taping explosive chemical on his body while on the plane on Christmas over Detroit US. When will these people ever stop? They make life difficult for genuine  air travellers. They make life uncomfortable for people of a certain religious persuasion.

I want to take one thing at a time. I want to enjoy and be grateful for each day, each week,each month and each year and forget the next Decade 2010-2019.... that reminds me, this is the decade before 2020! And what about the prophesied end of the world in December 2012?.... I must have that cup of coffee... sugarless thank you!

                                                Only a cup once in a while to perk me up

.....Am looking forward to South Africa 2010 WORLD CUP.... what an excitement!

MeRRy CHrisTMaS anD HaPpY NEw YEaR 2010

 
Good wishes and joy to everyone!

May the new Decade be better than the last

Let the spirit of world peace endure

Give us good world and local leaders

Bless us with bountiful harvest

Enable us to feed the world

Increase global efforts to address climate change

Save the endangered species

Eliminate poverty, famine and diseases

Create more sustainable global land use

 Preserve our environment too

Better international cooperation

Promote caring  and inculcate sharing

Stop wars, sectarian fighting and mindless terrorism

Spare us from the evil that men do

Let there be light in everyone's heart

Merry Christmas and Happy new Year.

Sinusitis Case and a Combination of Dehydration and Allergy.

Lily is relatively healthy for a 57 year old. Except for the blood pressure which is slowly creeping up due to her age, her baseline blood investigations are within normal limits. She is slightly obese though with a BMI of 30 (normal 23-25 for Malaysian). She needs to exercise to shed off her excess weight. On a positive note,she seldom suffers from any infection.

She travelled to Singapore last week and had a rather spicy dish the evening of her arrival for which she developed bouts of heavy diarrhoea early the next morning. She started to feel off color and the hotel air-conditioning was also not helpful as it made her throat dry. After feeling slightly better at midday, she went to a hair salon in a shopping mall and had her hair permed for almost four hours with only a glass of water.

                                     Lily's favourite hot and spicy "Mee Rebus" (noodle casserole)

On her visit to the restroom of the mall, she was inundated by the smell of cigarette's smoke but according to her she could not see anyone smoking. Now Lily is allergic to cigarette smoke and she could feel as if the smoke had gone through her nose and down to her throat. Her eyes and nose became watery and itchy and she coughed and sneezed incessantly . The shopping mall is,by the way, fully air-cond.

Then Lily, with her hair well couiffered, decided to visit her family friend and later they went for dinner. She remembered eating fried rice and drinking only tea. When she was about to leave, she was besieged by a discomfort in her throat as if the secretions had thickened in parts and was painful.

That was on 12 Dec 2009 and the next morning she somehow felt a bit better and only ate bland food. On the way back home on the plane, three days later, she started again to feel sick and her nose had become congested and secretion thick and yellowish-green and yet she did not feel feverish.By the fourth and fifth day of the initial throat pain, Lily had full-blown sinusitis, an inflammation of the nasal passages and throaty productive coughs signalling the start of her misery.

She was seen on 15 Dec and was started on a course of antibiotics when her condition did not improve the following day. The purulent secretions only receded and became clear on 19 Dec, after 72 hours of treatment. She was advised to continue the antibiotics for seven days. Throughout her ordeal, there was no fever.

Sinusitis, in this case was most probably initiated by the dehydration Lily suffered from the diarrhoea, the hotel air-conditioning, the mall and salon air-conditioning and the compressed cabin air of the aircraft. Then the allergic reaction due to the cigarette smoke. All these factors had altered the normal state of her sinus, rendering it more susceptible to secondary infection by micro-organisms prevalent in the nasal passages.

It is important to avoid getting dehydrated when you travel. it is also not smart to eat spicy foods on account of possible diarrhoea. Avoid prolonged stay in air-cond areas if you are already dehydrated or drink plenty of fluid. Fresh air is best.

For her indiscretion with food during travel and the unfortunate encounter with the smoke allergen in an enclosed area, Lily was off sick for three days, effectively lowering her work productivity. She had looked forward to a year without sick leave and she thought she was going to achieve it as there are only 19 days before 2009 ends.

Tricor is...... A Cold Cucumber

The best time for a long-term investor, apart from selling stocks at a high profit, is when the companies you are investing in are giving you dividends.  I really look forward to receiving these cheques in the specific months throughout the year. I also  check on-line when the payment date of the dividend is due and estimate the time I would receive it in the post.

I have had no problems all these while until one of these cheques did not arrive after about two weeks. This was the first time it happened to me. I knew I had to contact the share registrar to inform about  this but I did not know which one. So I tried one I found on line using the given telephone number.... there started my exasperated exercise. It took almost one and a half hour to finally talk to someone, before that you keep hearing this robotic voice telling you that all the customer agents were busy and try the extension ( how do I know what the extension was because the robot was not interactively human!).

I was disconnected so many times but I knew I had to be patient otherwise I would not get that dividend which I badly needed to top up my MAXIS shares. When at last I  heard a human voice, I told her the name of my stock, only to be told that they were not handling the company's services. I managed to ask the girl who else are the share registrars, then she mentioned Tricor and immediately I remember the name printed on the upper left hand corner of  dividend cheque envelope that I ever received. The girl was nice enough to give me the telephone contact.

This call to Tricor was not too bad as I got through after less than five minutes. The operator transferred me to the relevant section. The woman on the line did not have a warm voice ( I think everyone would know whether the person on the other end is friendly or not after the first few words). I explained to her about the "missing" dividend cheque. She told me to wait another week or so (Ghee!!) and she would send me a form to fill in  then I would have to pay to get the new cheque sent over. Then I informed her that I did not lose the cheque, I just did not receive it!  Why should I have to pay? She said that was just too bad and if I wanted the new cheque I just have to pay. She did not try to explain nicely at all. And that was my money she was talking about!  I would have understood... even if she said " Sorry, that is the  company's policy". Obviously she has not been trained on how to deal with clients. Her soft skills left much to be desired.

Honestly, If I were to choose my share registrar I would not choose this company!

I emailed my particulars and would you believe it? The reply was computer generated... "Dear valued investors.. blah..blah.". this was despite me using her personal company email address AND after we had talked on the phone. I was allergic to this kind of treatment and she called herself "The Manager"??.. I wonder how do her subordinates behave with a boss like that!

I was so relieved when POS Malaysia was able to trace the cheque! And the people there were so nice to talk to, congratulation POS Malaysia! .Your customer service is excellent.

The woman and the company would not exist without the investors... just like doctors , we would not be here if not for our patients so we treat them with respect.

Now, my next dividend cheque is from SIME, payment date is on 4 Dec 2009  and  Oh Blada! The same share registrar is handling it. Hope the cheque arrives safely.....

Are you for real, Cucumber?

                                                                                                                                                      AP photo

UEMLand Dives on Dubai Debt

 The tallest tower in the world
Burj Dubai.


Despite the assurances given, Malaysian investors are not taking chances against  stocks having exposure to the Dubai World which is currently freezing repayment on its massive loan. Properties in partneship with the Dubai conglomerate to develop the Iskandar region is hardest hit so far. A few weeks ago UEMLand was trading at 1.77, when last checked this afternoon  it was at 1.43 with a day low of 1.39.

According to newspaper reports Malaysian construction companies have limited exposure to Dubai financial activities but what is the quantum of the limitation? I suppose Dubai  World will eventually recover through restructuring of its loans and perhaps via a kind of bailout by its cash-rich brother emirate, Abu Dhabi. This then might be an opportune  time to buy UEMLand but how many  retail investors  want to try their luck? I for one, am not game. Moreover affected big western investors are issuing warning that they might not raise any more loans in the future for Dubai , particularly, should the company default on the repayment.

I am glad I disposed  this stock last September at a slight profit, not because I predicted the Dubai crisis but because I wanted to buy Maxis as the potential is more predictable. UEMLand was more speculative in nature and under current cash-strapped scenario, I do not think it is a good idea to hold on to this kind of stock.

I have more luck though with  the Sarawak-based construction company HSL whose shares  I bought at 0.89 and is now doing modestly well. Only government-linked companies, it seems to me,  would go all out for mega projects. Just look at the Dubai World, most people thought that it belonged or at least linked to the emirate that was why they invested happily (greedily?), now we know better. In time of boom  they share your good fortune, in time of bust, they keep a distance and call on investors to look at the fine prints! Who would want to invest in such a country?

People should visit Dubai World's website to check on the exposure of other Malaysian companies.