...All the Asia business news that didn't fit...

Archives: January 2000 The Hari Ini column is available daily on the Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine home page. Sure.. go there now for more of the same. At least it's fresher... This page contains one month of the archives. The Hari Ini column documents off-the cuff comments, very odd spots, unsubstantiated rumours, misinterpretations, cruel innuendo, limp jokes, dodgy links, tips lacking in credibility, and other material very roughly related to Asian business, marketing, management, culture, politics, economics and why the earth is round. Some of the items emerge into sections later on; some are contributed by email or word of mouth by friends of the forum, columnists, editorial advisors, and the Chao Phraya River Rat. ..Most of it just ends up here... Basically it means we can at least comment on happenings that we wouldn't otherwise have the time to. "Hari Ini" means "Today" in both Malaysian and Indonesian. ..Which means that everything on this page is already outta date... As the masthead suggests, this column also includes all the news that doesn't fit.. It also means we can add some lightheartedness and CNN type shallowness to our otherwise more serious content. As CNN proves, such content sells... Mostly the column just reflects the mood of the editors on the day, and gives a potted summary of key issues in the region. If you want it to reflect your mood as well, email us contributions at chiyo@apmforum.com. Chiyo Hyiuiki (Webmaster, and on behalf of the editors)

Bangkok: Monday 24th January 2000 Ronald is none-too-pleased: Those who know the Philippines well will know the affection that local businesses have for US brands, to the extent that they are copied with impunity. The "Rock Hard" is a good example. Latest news is that McDonalds have had their favourable ruling against the Filipino "Big Mac" chain overturned earlier this week, and ordered to pay compensation for "lost earnings". | Canadian reference-checking firm Infocheck reports that 33% of "short-listed" applicants lied on their resumé, based on a sample of 1,000 on their books. Any estimates for Asia? OPC, a gentlemanly outfit if there ever was one, prefers to refer to this practice as resumé expansion, and provides hints on how to improve recruiting practices in Asia. | Yahoo Asia's stock price became the first 1,000,000 Yen stock in Japan on Wednesday, as Japanese investors rush to buy Internet stocks. As reported earlier, another Search Engine-focused company, Lycos Japan, is pouring funds into Japanese promotion and advertising. Japan has for several years led Asian in internet access. The Internet has well and truly arrived as a mainstream industry in Japan. | Thaipusam, the birthday of Hindu deity Lord Subramanium, is currently being celebrated in India and among Indian communities world-wide. More info on how Thaipusam is being celebrated in Penang on this page. | Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who we described as the embodiment of Thai grace and achievement last week reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open (Tennis) yesterday. We're all behind you Tammy... | Pizza PLC, owner of the Pizza Hut franchise in Thailand for 20 years has been refused extension of their franchise by Tricon Global Restaurant Inc., US based brand owners. Pizza PLC's stock has been tumbling since October, and yesterday announced they will be "rebranding" all outlets within weeks. We're not waiting with our tongues hangin' out.. Pizza Hut creates the worst pizza in the business world wide, though the local Tom Yam pizza "sub-brand" was a definate improvement. No more mushy cardboard for us... we are sticking to the best real Italian pizza in Bangkok, down Sukhumvit Soi 22 a piece... For better directions email here! | Patience is running out with Pakistan's Musharaff - China is not backing his Kashmir aspirations and word has it that the unusually quiet US admin may step up the heat soon. | Under the dark shadow of religious violence and unrest, as well as calls for Jihad by Muslim radicals, Indonesia released an investor-friendly and far more realistic budget than in previous years yesterday. | Quote of the day from the man who brought the US together, rather than pull it apart; perhaps many of us should heed his words in an Asia where keeping silent is always the best policy - "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King, Jr. | Bangkok: Friday 21st January 2000 Ronald is non-too-pleased: Those who know the Philippines well will know the affection that local businesses have for US brands, to the extent that they are copied with impunity. The "Rock Hard" is a good example. Latest news is that McDonalds have had their favourable ruling against the Filipino "Big Mac" chain overturned earlier this week, and ordered to pay compensation for "lost earnings". | Canadian reference-checking firm Infocheck reports that 33% of "short-listed" applicants lied on their resumé, based on a sample of 1,000 on their books. Any estimates for Asia? OPC, a gentlemanly outfit if there ever was one, prefers to refer to this practice as resumé expansion, and provides hints on how to improve recruiting practices in Asia. | Yahoo Asia's stock price became the first 1,000,000 Yen stock in Japan on Wednesday, as Japanese investors rush to buy Internet stocks. As reported earlier, another Search Engine-focused company, Lycos Japan, is pouring funds into Japanese promotion and advertising. Japan has for several years led Asian in internet access. The Internet has well and truly arrived as a mainstream industry in Japan. | Thaipusam, the birthday of Hindu deity Lord Subramanium, is currently being celebrated in India and among Indian communities world-wide. More info on how Thaipusam is being celebrated in Penang on this page. | Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who we described as the embodiment of Thai grace and achievement last week reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open (Tennis) yesterday. We're all behind you Tammy... | Pizza PLC, owner of the Pizza Hut franchise in Thailand for 20 years has been refused extension of their franchise by Tricon Global Restaurant Inc., US based brand owners. Pizza PLC's stock has been tumbling since October, and yesterday announced they will be "rebranding" all outlets within weeks. We're not waiting with our tongues hangin' out.. Pizza Hut creates the worst pizza in the business world wide, though the local Tom Yam pizza "sub-brand" was a definate improvement. No more mushy cardboard for us... we are sticking to the best real Italian pizza in Bangkok, down Sukhumvit Soi 22 a piece... For better directions email here! | Patience is running out with Pakistan's Musharaff - China is not backing his Kashmir aspirations and word has it that the unusually quiet US admin may step up the heat soon. | Under the dark shadow of religious violence and unrest, as well as calls for Jihad by Muslim radicals, Indonesia released an investor-friendly and far more realistic budget than in previous years yesterday. | Quote of the day from the man who brought the US together, rather than pull it apart; perhaps many of us should heed his words in an Asia where keeping silent is always the best policy - "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King, Jr. | Bangkok: Wednesday 19th January 2000 Investors greeted the arrest of Malaysian opposition "recalcitrants" last week with a massive boost to the KL stock market the last few days. It was the early new year boost that many had predicted for a laggard market all last year compared to it's neighbours... | Happy Days are Here Again: ...And the KLSE gained again yesterday (+2.7%), amid record gains for Asian markets led by Karachi (+6%) Seoul (+3.7%). Tokyo was also up 2.5%, Jakarta (1.8%), Taipei (1.3%), and Bangkok (0.6%). The glamour market of the Asian recovery last year, Singapore, was down 2.1%, continuing a slow start to the year, though good news was a poll from Barra's "The Estimate Directory" analysts suggesting bank profits to hit 3.2 billion, a massive 155% increase from 1988's 1.2 Billion. India is looking good too, with industrial growth hitting a 6.4% growth rate April to November 1999, against 3.6% for the same period last year. | Japan's karaoke clubs and swanky restaurants are feeling the brunt of serious government and corporate efforts to reduce lavish expense accounts in the Land of the Rising Sun. Japanese companies spent US48 billion on gifts and entertainment in 1999, down 20% from 1992, eight years ago. Entertaining lavishly does not return the rewards it used to. Ginza prices and profits are down and the geisha's don't quite smile like they used to... | Rumours are increasing of an upcoming coup in Indonesia. Several well-placed friends of the APMF in the great Malay archipelago are convinced that religious tension in Aceh, and other hot spots is being fueled by a military pissed off with their loss of power post-Soeharto. Don't panic, but don't discount the possibility, at least for a short while... | A fast, relevant search engine for finding Web pages is IXquick. It returns those pages listed most regularly among the top 10 in the top search engine databases. | In case you missed it, Stratfor's decade forecasts for Asia and all other regions is now available. | Another good resource, especially for country-based market research reports is TradePort |

Bangkok: Friday 14th January 2000

Mahathir's Malaysia took a gamble this week as it arrested newspaper figures and major political opposition figures for "sedition" following events during the Malaysian election period. Since the election, Malaysia entered into a comparatively politically stable period. This week's arrests compromise this, and reinforce the perception that Malaysia is ruled by fear rather than consensus and respect. See the Rat's views later today on what it takes to be seditious in Malaysia and why patriotism is very different to loyalty to a ruling élite. | We still use Malaysia Kini, as the most (and probably only) balanced and authoritative source of Malaysian news since the mainstream press was hijacked by the government. | Music as you browse... APMF Board member's Usha and George Haley's Asia-Pacific dot Com continues to develop with a new links page on the implications of China's entry into the WTO. Bonus is you can listen to popular European classical music as your browse. | Thailand's Thammasat University academics are upset with the government's plans to privatise higher education, citing that availability of higher education to the disadvantaged would be compromised. Also some concern, according to a Professor friend of the forum in that revered institution, that universities are poorly set up to attract their own funding | The new Bangkok Skytrain has proved a boon for retailers around the Siam Square station in particular, after a couple of years of construction making access difficult. Shoppers are thronging the Discovery Center, Siam properties and many others - up 100% - 250% on previous weekly figures according to insiders... | The World Bank's Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries 2000 report suggests that recovery is "fragile and uneven, with some regions recovering better than others". (PDF file) | Following an earlier Hari Ini report on the difficulties of evil Western-developed software spell-checkers to recognise the names of our Asian leaders (If you remember, our spell-checker suggested "cheating" for OZ ex-PM Paul Keating and "coward" for incumbent PM John Howard), the latest target for the Western conspiracy is none other than Philippines boss Estrada. Enter "Erap" in your spell checker and the suggested correct spelling is "Crap"..

Bangkok: Wednesday 12th January 2000

Erap's got his! The homely named "Erap Today" is actually the official page of President Estrada of the Philippines. ...No Erap jokes there... | Meanwhile, Erap's latest shake-up of his inner circle of advisors is quite significant according to APMF friends in Manila. Following Erap's fall from grace in opinion polls recently, some cronies are gone, and there has been a shift of power towards competence rather than mateship. Our own APMF cronies are happy with the opportunities that the shift in power presages. | Freudian Slips Department: A spokesman for Singapore Airlines (SIA) commenting on the Virgin/SIA union... "...Despite her marriage to SIA, Virgin will not be interfered with..." ..They're true gents at SIA... | Congratulations to Tamarine (Tammy) Tanasugarn and Paradorn Srichaphan, Thai tennis world-beaters, on beating favourites and almost all before them, demonstrating to Australia and the world at the Hopman Cup in Perth, the irrepressible spirit, unaffected nature, dignity in triumph and defeat, and achievement of Thai people. They showed the world (and Thai business) how to win internationally at a hard game without compromising integrity. | Obituary to an empowering-Web: Most significant aspect of the AOL/Time-Warner merger is that publishers have demonstrated that the Internet is key to their success in future, at the same time signaling the last stages of the move of Internet publishing from a cottage industry of amateurs and new money to an industry controlled by the established information industry élite. | Indonesian government figures yesterday accused Western multi-nationals of involvement in bribery and corruption during the Soeharto era. Stating the obvious of course - any large multinational investing successfully in Indonesia during the past few decades of course paid "introduction" fees, offered dirty lucre, and extended privelages to Tutup, Tommy, Bambung, Soeharto's charities, and a host of others. It was impossible to set up in Indonesia without doing so... Nevertheless, it had to be said. "It takes two", as the old tune goes... and the same goes in describing the "Asian" crisis... | Good article/review on Islam and Secularism here. (Asia Source) Islam becoming more powerful in Asia, and an understanding of the implications is key to successful Asian business. | Chao Phraya River Rat Tip: Cambodia will become the new trendy travel destination for international travellers in 2000/1 - Get there before we do to it what we did to Koh Samui... | Yet another Web site to help you keep up to date with Asian business and news. The Asian Observer is a "start page for observers of Asia affairs" | Just for fun... go here for the Asia Pacific Management Forum home page translated into, not Chinese, not Japanese... but cockney!... (Thanks to Rinkworks).. Heh you can even read the whole site (or any other page) that way. Some heartless souls say that this version is much easier to understand...