Question.
The Prime Minister is in Yemen.
The Deputy Prime Minister is in Saudi Arabia.
So, who exactly is in charge?
The king?
Please do not tell me that it is somebody on the fourth floor.
This case also occurred in 2005.
Category: Politics & government
I thought yesterday was scary when Shanghai’s benchmark fell about 9%. Yet, I thought it was a mere blip, some sort of a random walk that usually occurs for no good reason. The Dow Jones followed suit later but I thought it was a reaction to the Chinese performance. As of noon, today, the KL Composite Index has fallen nearly 6%. As a whole, it is not pretty for the region either. This might be the start of a vicious cycle and I am beginning to change my mind about the random walk.
I would like to see data on consumer spending to find out what is really happening though. If we truly are in trouble, consumer spending should start falling. It is only unfortunate that there is a lag in reporting.
Meanwhile, talks of recession are yet again running amok:
Still, traders’ dwindling confidence was knocked down further by data showing that the economy may be decelerating more than anticipated. A Commerce Department report that orders for durable goods in January dropped by the largest amount in three months exacerbated jitters about the direction of the U.S. economy, just a day after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the United States may be headed for a recession. [Stocks Have Worst Day Since 9/11 Attacks, AP via Yahoo!, Feb 27 2007]
Alarms have been sounded earlier. That is why I am somewhat skeptical of the feel good atmosphere the Barisan Nasional-led government is trying to paint currently. The economy was relatively good last year — I am willing to accept that much — but between the future and the past, we should concern ourselves with the former, first and foremost.
With a recession expected to hit the US, and — by virtue that the country is Malaysia’s largest trading partner and that Malaysia is hugely dependent on trade — Malaysia, strategically, I feel it is best for the BN-led government to dissolve the Parliament soon. Therefore, I am agreeing with the executive director of MIER, Ariff Abdul Kareem’s opinion.
The later the general election is held, the worse the economy would perform and the worse BN would perform in the election.
Nevertheless, of course, that does not prevent us from savoring the expected Bank Negara’s announcement on last year’s GDP.
When KKR, a coal power plants operator and the Environmental Defense are mentioned in one article in the same paragraph, one would expect a report on vicious political skirmish. Quite to the contrary and to my surprise, the three groups are working together!
The buzz first came up a couple hours ago but it is only just now that I accepted it. I was like running into a think see-through glass door — it takes a moment to realize what is going on after a pang in the face. This might signal the greatest cooperation between the greens and the grays yet:
Early Monday, after several weeks of marathon negotiations that brought together both environmentalists and Wall Street bankers, TXU announced that its board of directors had approved the bid from Kohlberg Kravis and Texas Pacific for about $45 billion, which would be the largest buyout in history.
[…]
The deal was noteworthy not just for its size, but for the confluence of business decisions and environmental concerns that drove the ultimate transaction. Because private equity firms are unregulated and historically have valued their privacy, neither Kohlberg Kravis nor Texas Pacific were eager to become an “enemy combatant” of the environmental groups, people involved in the talks said. Reducing the coal plant initiative will also free up billions of dollars in planned spending that the firms will be able to use for other projects or to help finance the transaction. [NYT, Feb 26 2007]
I have a newly found respect for the Environmental Defense! That whole lot spams I received through email, tons of snail mail I received in my mailbox and that couple of bucks I donated to them while I was at Michigan worth every single bit!
This is the crux of the deal, as far as the environment is concerned, as stated in an email I received from Environmental Defense:
As part of the sale agreement, Environmental Defense helped negotiate an aggressive environmental platform that will, among other things:
- Terminate plans for the construction of 8 of 11 coal-fired power plants TXU had hoped to build;
- Stop TXU’s plans to expand coal operations in other states;
- Endorse the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) platform, including the call for a mandatory federal cap on carbon emissions; and
- Reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Way to go!
w00t! w00t!
p/s — and Al Gore won the Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth!
Paul Krugman of the New York Times is reminding Presidential candidates, especially Hillary Clinton of the need to admit mistake (via):
But back to Mrs. Clinton’s problem. For some reason she and her advisers failed to grasp just how fed up the country is with arrogant politicians who can do no wrong. I don’t think she falls in that category; but her campaign somehow thought it was still a good idea to follow Karl Rove’s playbook, which says that you should never, ever admit to a mistake. And that playbook has led them into a political trap.
For those that have not been following the current race for the 2008 Presidential election, the New York senator is under attack for refusing to admit mistake for authorizing the invasion of Iraq. As in right now, John Edwards and Barack Obama are in one way or another on the offensive as far as Iraq is concerned. That is very unlike what Hillary Clinton is experiencing right now.
Jika semalam Utusan Malaysia, meminjam frasa The Sensintrovert, cuba menyemarakkan nafsu politikus-politikus di seluruh negara, Timbalan Perdana Menteri Najib Razak melalui Utusan dan juga saluran-saluran Media Prima memadamkan keghairahan tersebut. Bak kata Mat Salleh, TPM “poured cold water” ke atas perkara yang secara langsung menyentuh kemungkinan pilihanraya di dalam tahun 2007.
Di muka hadapan Mingguan Malaysia hari ini:
KUALA LUMPUR 17 Feb. — Banyak pihak menganggap masih terlalu awal untuk kerajaan membubarkan Parlimen bagi memberi laluan kepada pilihan raya umum walaupun petunjuk ekonomi pada masa ini berada pada kedudukan memberangsangkan.
Mereka berpendapat kerajaan tidak perlu tergesa-gesa kerana negara baru sahaja selesai mengadakan pilihan raya umum pada tahun 2004 dan mandat itu hanya berakhir pada April 2009.
Adalah rugi bagi kerajaan membubarkan Parlimen dalam tempoh singkat selepas hanya separuh penggal memegang amanah rakyat selain menurut mereka, Barisan Nasional (BN) tidak berada dalam keadaan terdesak untuk mengadakan pilihan raya.
Saya berpendapat bahawa Utusan lebih merupakan suara orang-orang Melayu daripada orang-orang UMNO. Mungkin ramai akan menyangkal pendapat itu tetapi kegagalan pengambungan di antara Utusan dan New Straits Times akibat penentangan hebat orang-orang Utusan dan ahli-ahli politik Melayu (yang juga ahli-ahli UMNO) terhadap kehendak Perdana Menteri menyakinkan saya tentang kedudukan Utusan.
Oleh itu, mengambil kira kedua-dua laporan mengenai pilihanraya yang cuba membawa maksud yang berbeza, mungkin sedang berlaku satu perdebatan hebat di dalam UMNO tentang pilihanraya. Atau, mungkin sekali, orang-orang Melayu sudah mula bosan dengan UMNO.
Atau mungkin Utusan hanya mengulangi apa yang Reuters telah sampaikan.
Walau bagaimanapun, saya teringat slogan pasukan yang berkempen untuk William Jefferson Clinton untuk pilihanraya Amerika Syarikat 1992. Slogan itu berbunyi, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Clinton kemudiannya dipilih oleh rakyat Amerika untuk menjadi Presiden yang ke-42 negara tersebut.
Tiada siapa patut lupa akan kata-kata itu.