Archives:
March 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)
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Bangkok: Friday 31st March 2000 |
Many Asian stock markets down today on a 4% drop of the NASDAQ overnight and a warning from Marc Mobius on over-valuation of tech stocks in emerging markets. All modesty aside of course, we warned about this 2 weeks ago. | Dow Jones has launched a series of indicies for investors wishing to invest according to Islamic investment guidlines. According to the site - "The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes track Shari`ah Law compliant stocks from around the world, providing Islamic investors with comprehensive tools based on a truly global investing perspective..." | Still on Islamic finance, an Islamic view of finance - and a global investment monetary system that is based on usury and fraud. Well written and argued piece. | Jailhouse Rocks: President Chen's election in Taiwan means that if you havent spent a bit of time in the big house at one time or the other, your chances of the big jobs, on a statistical probability basis - decrease fast. Leaders who have spent time include Malaysia's Mahathir and Anwar, Taiwan's Chen, Korea's Kim Dae Jong, and Thailand's (ex) DPM Sanan. Make sure its on your CV when you apply. | For Asian expats abroad who miss their national songs here is an index of Asian national anthems. Click on one and you hear those familiar strains. As an example here is Malaysia and Thailand. It's enuff to make you teary-eyed. | A little bit dated, but no fault of the publishers - (in fact we are at fault for not finding it earlier) - but here is an excellent series on the Art and Practice of Japanese Management. | ...And still on useful or entertaining links.. here are some useful Malay phrases translated and as sound files as she is spoken in Brunei. Seems the same as the Malaysia lingo - Bahasa Melayu - you can also get by with these phrases in Indonesia among those who speak the Indonesian national language, though there are some significant differences, notably in days of the week, and greetings according to time. |
Chang Noi returns!: No less than 10 days after the banning of elephants from Bangkok streets and mahouts banished back to their provinces, a baby elephant was spotted last night at a well-frequented but less-than-respectable tourist hangout in Soi 4 Sukhumvit. Baby elephants are easier to hide than the big ones when the coppers come a-sniffin'. Throw a grey tarp over it, a long red snake thingo around its neck and front, and you can explain to the local cops that its actually Chevalit on a night out. Seriously... a baby elephant can disappear as fast as a butterfly falang through the Nana Disco secret back door when unexpected patrons float in the front door. |
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Bangkok: Monday 27th March 2000 |
Thai buffoon Chevalit, the ex PM who said on TV one night that the Baht would not be floated and on the morning after floated it, who promised starving voters in Issan that voting for his New Aspiration Party (aka New Exasperation Party) would help them pay for new TV sets that they smashed in after seeing government pollies talking on it is up to his ears in elephant poo yet again. His chief economic advisor Surasak Nananaukul, together with another Thai and a Singaporean were arrested in the US on conspiring to buy Iraqi oil in defiance of UN sanctions. Expect both international and Thai developments in the next few days. Chevalit threatens to topple Hari Ini's current leader in Thailand's GIT (Greatest Internal Threat) leader board - Chang Beer. | Top 1,000 Asian companies from Asia Week shows Japanese companies continue to dominate | One of the finest Indonesian companies - Astra - is about to be sold off. 500 to 600 billion US dollars worth of car manufacturer - Who will buy it? The key shareholder really does need the money. Best bets are on Cycle and Carriage, Newbridge, and a company led by guess who - George Soros. | Cold Pizza Man - Japanese Keizo Obuchi - saw increasing disapproval rates in the latest Asahi Shimbun survey. Up to 45% - 10 points more than last month's survey | Fascinating by-election upcoming in Malaysia for the Pahang state. Such by-elections are normally low profile but ruling party BN has pledged to compete aggressively so born-again political heavy-weight Islam-based PAS would not be able to claim further popular support. Adnan Yacob, Pahang Chief minister, has his pic spread over Web sites at the moment showing him delivering a particularly un-Malaysian and impolite hand gesture to opposition supporters earlier in the election period. Reacting to what he called "sudden and grave provocation" and just returning the compliment, up went the the finger - and with it his visage featured over several Web sites. - Heh, Malaysian politics could well become as much fun as Thai politics if it wasn't so tragic... | The CD cover for Warner Brothers CD of controversial Hollywood flick "The Beach" - a Western take on the hippie and drug culture of Thai islands a decade or so back - has come under predictable attack for depicting talentless celebrity heart-throb Leonardo De CRAPio in an elevated position against a Buddha statue. Best it is just ignored as we should have done with "The King and I" - another powder-puff Hollywood offering lacking any semblance of artistic, intellectual or historical integrity - the US entertainment industry almost exclusively deals in fantasy, and reduces reality to a pulp while re-inforcing trendy Western values and raking in the filthy lucre. | New Zealand announced disappointing trade figures yesterday - increasing speculation of a S&P downgrade in the near future. | The Queen of England - and still Australia, visited the land downunder this week amidst generally showery and depressing weather that seemed to follow her around. A lady of integrity and honor, it is a pity if she bears the brunt of the anger from a constitutional referendum beaten into meaningless pulp by a conservative ruling party last year. Her family however, continues to do everything they can to decrease respect for English monarchy. Our second buffoon of the day - Prince Philip or the Duke of Edinburgh or our preferred title "Phil the Geek", following up his idiotic rascist comments on Chinese and Indians documented in previous Hari Ini's - yet again did all he can to prove the result of royal in-breeding when viewing a demonstration of a geological instrument called a "Peizometer". "A "Piss-ometer"?, observed the royal personage.. Yet another graceless attempt to come down to the level of the common man, mate...
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Bangkok: Wednesday 22nd March 2000 |
We tend to forget Brunei, one of the smallest countries in Asia, but also one of the most wealthy in the world. Last week's stunning news on the arrest of a prince on corruption charges reminded us that the Borneo Bulletin provides independent news on Brunei, with a snappy local cartoon "Borneo Bulls-eye". Not much on business, but a recommended way to keep up with what's new in Brunei Darussalum. | A gold mine of information on business development in Asia can be gotten from the Business Development Asia newsletters, published every month in PDF format, focusing in different newsletters on Health, Automotive, Chemical and Technology areas. Highly recommended | The People's Liberation Army is, of course, straining at the lead to teach recalcitrant Taiwan a lesson. The army jock's own weekly newsletter "Haowangjiao Weekly" just a few hours ago hit the newstands with a report which describes in detail how "China has developed new, multiple-warhead long-range missiles" and how China could attack "U.S. satellites and military bases in the Pacific." "If that was insufficient", the article quoted from Knight-Ridder's Michael Dorgan said, "China would fire a nuclear warning shot in the Taiwan Strait and threaten the United States with a nuclear attack if it did not withdraw." ...Smarter heads will prevail. | Thai brewer Boon Rawd spent over 25 M US last year on advertising, maintaining it's lead as Thailand's biggest advertising spender - recession notwithstanding. | The Index for the activities of Japan's service industry -- which accounts for about 60% of gross domestic product--in January rose 0.5% on month on a seasonally-adjusted basis. | Taiwan's stock market rose 5.5% today after president elect Chen proposed "peace talks" with China. Also announced was lifting of the ban on direct trade between Taiwan and China and some outlying islands would be the first to be involved. It's a symbol of willingness to work together, but China still has to agree. | Thailand's economy grew a higher-than-expected 6.5 percent in the last quarter of 1999, the government said Monday, underscoring the strength of the export-led recovery | "Never before in the thousands of years of Chinese history has an opposition group taken control without bloodshed." - Chilling words from the leader of China's opposition democracy party. |
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Bangkok: Monday 20th March 2000 |
We were wrong! On Friday we predicted that the Taiwanese would tend towards conservatism and cower under threats from Beijing. In the end, pro-independence candidate Chen was victorious, heralding the first time the KMT has been humbled in the around 50 years since Chiang Kai-shek led his nationalists defeated at the hands of Mao's rampaging Red army to set up Taiwan. Since then Taiwan emerged as an Asian Tiger while China stumbled as theory, yet again, failed to live up to its promise in practice. Already this morning, the Taiwan stock market tumbled early with concerns about mainland reaction and the most radical political change ever but stabled later. Chen however is adopting a concilatory posture, and we expect business to adjust quickly to the new political leadership, though of course KMT contolled companies will suffer. In the end of course, it was a victory for new democracy in Asia, for diversity, and for courage of the people in the street in the face of an angry dragon. Background analysis from the Asia Society on the Taiwanese presidential elections is available. | Japanese and Indian business closed today for a public holiday. | The Hong Kong U based Centre of Research on Education in China aims to act as a bridge between researchers in China and abroad. | Sage publications announce the Handbook of Media in Asia | Agony aunts make the move to the Web - but this time it's a Feng Shui expert - Aunt Agga. Auntie Agga (big smile, red lips, and dangling earrings of course!) answers reader's questions on where they should place that vase, how many carp to have in the fish tank, and ventures into love life as well. The parent site - The World of Feng Shui, is a brilliantly conceived and executed e-zine on all things Feng Shui, with regular features, articles, on-line analysis, and book reviews. Good for both feng shui afficionados as well as those who want to start to understand what this Chinese art is all about. Have a peek... | Muslim pilgrims on the Haj have been warned in the keynote sermon delivered yesterday to reject Western materialism and culture - and that globalization will increase the West's domination over the Muslim world. | If your partner is of the same sex, don't expect to be invited to Dr Mahathir's table. In his latest "World Analysis" entitled Live and Let live the good doctor outlines why he doesn't mind people having a wine at the same table as himself - but as far as homosexual partners of guests go - they have to stay home doing the knitting. Dr Mahathir's tolerance for different life-styles and cultures does have bounds. | And still in Malaysia, ex-chief copper Rahim Noor was sentenced to jail yesterday for king-hitting a handcuffed and blindfolded Anwar Ibrahim held in his custody on a dark evil night following a long hard day of countering riots on the streets. Nobody is happy - to Anwar supporters the punishment is very lenient when compared to Anwar's predicament - to Rahim and his lawyers, it is poor return for 30 years of public service and playing the game. Rahim is still free on bail and pending appeal, but some time soon, Malaysia may be able to boast having both the Deputy PM and the Police chief of 3 years ago incarcerated... The rules have changed in today's Malaysia... | Finally, a site just right for the APMF editor, the cold pizza PM of Japan, and people who love English food and Malaysian nightspots - the National Council of Dull Men's web site, decorated in sombre grey and black tones, (though no pinstripes yet), offers dull jokes, dull events, and even dull book reviews. Go there now - just to prove that the APMF is not as boring as you always thought....
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Bangkok: Friday 17th March 2000 |
Zhu Ronji, appearing last night on the tellie with eyes blazing fire, warned the eldest recalicitrant son that if an independence candidate was returned in Saturday's Taiwanese elections, Taiwan "may not get a second chance". A show of military force by running military exercises off the Taiwanese coast like last time was dropped in favour of fighting words. The message will get through to a Taiwanese electorate already spooked by the military might of an awakening mainland, empowered by their feting by an international community who in no way want the largest nation on earth as anything else than good mates. Many pragmatic Chinese in Taiwan may well vote in accord. Hong Kong markets were spooked as well, and fear, again, will play a determining role in an Asian election. Analysis from the Asia Society on the Taiwanese presidential elections is available. | The Hong Kong U based Centre of Research on Education in China aims to act as a bridge between researchers in China and abroad. | Sage publications announce the Handbook of Media in Asia | Agony aunts make the move to the Web - but this time it's a Feng Shui expert - Aunt Agga. Auntie Agga (big smile, red lips, and dangling earrings of course!) answers reader's questions on where they should place that vase, how many carp to have in the fish tank, and ventures into love life as well. The parent site - The World of Feng Shui, is a brilliantly conceived and executed e-zine on all things Feng Shui, with regular features, articles, on-line analysis, and book reviews. Good for both feng shui afficionados as well as those who want to start to understand what this Chinese art is all about. Have a peek... | Muslim pilgrims on the Haj have been warned in the keynote sermon delivered yesterday to reject Western materialism and culture - and that globalization will increase the West's domination over the Muslim world. | If your partner is of the same sex, don't expect to be invited to Dr Mahathir's table. In his latest "World Analysis" entitled Live and Let live the good doctor outlines why he doesn't mind people having a wine at the same table as himself - but as far as homosexual partners of guests go - they just have to stay home doing the knitting. Dr Mahathir's tolerance for different life-styles and cultures does have bounds. | And still in Malaysia, ex-chief copper Rahim Noor was sentenced to jail yesterday for king-hitting a handcuffed and blindfolded Anwar Ibrahim held in his custody on a dark evil night following a long hard day of countering riots on the streets. Nobody is happy - to Anwar supporters the punishment is very lenient when compared to Anwar's predicament - to Rahim and his lawyers, it is poor return for 30 years of public service and playing the game. Rahim is still free on bail and pending appeal, but some time soon, Malaysia may be able to boast having both the Deputy PM and the Police chief of 3 years ago incarcerated... The rules have changed in today's Malaysia... | Finally, a site just right for the APMF editor, the cold pizza PM of Japan, and people who love English food and Malaysian nightspots - the National Council of Dull Men's web site, decorated in sombre grey and black tones, (though no pinstripes yet), offers dull jokes, dull events, and even dull book reviews. Go there now - just to prove that the APMF is not as boring as you always thought.... |
Bangkok: Monday 12th March 2000 |
Malaysia's currency has been officially non-tradeable and has no value overseas since the currency controls were introduced a couple of years back. Currency taken in and out of the country has to be declared at immigration points. This has caused major inconvenience for international travelers, especially Malaysians, with the Ringgit disappearing from exchange rate boards in banks, and your friendly downtown currency booth overseas. ....Or has it?.... It is still possible according to friends of the forum. Some booths at the Singapore airport will exchange Ringgit for Singapore dollars, and the booth on the 2nd floor of the Emporium shopping center in Sukhumvit Bangkok will gladly change it for Baht at around a 20% margin. How they get it back into Malaysia is anybody's guess. ..Or are they just hoarding it for the day when controls are removed? | News Ahead has a page on Asia Pacific news forecasts, designed for journalists, but of great interest to anybody interested in upcoming news events Updated regularly | From the wok into the fire? Oz journo Ross Dunkley is editor of the new Myanmar Times and Business Review, having given up on Vietnam Investment Review citing "heavy-handed state censorship from Hanoi's communist regime". Good luck Ross! | Still on media, the Malaysian government is taking seriously pressure group calls for foreign Chinese and Tamil movies broadcast by satellite broadcaster Astro to be restricted, reduced, or banned. "This may conflict with nation-building" was the comment from PM Mahathir. Meanwhile those traveling by public bus from the new airport to the city center are still entertained by unedited violent and foul-mouthed Hollywood movies during the trek to town. | Apart from Tokyo and the Philippines, most Asian stock markets ignored the steep fall on the Dow the day before, and ended higher. | Esko Pajasalmi, the "father of professional public relations in Thailand" passed away on Tuesday. First visiting Thailand in 1959 representing the Watchtower Bible School, this Finnish immigrant stayed on in Thailand for 40 years, learning to read, write and speak Thai, and setting up the Presko PR agency. PR was unknown in Thailand at that time but "Uncle Esko" developed the industry almost single-handedly in the early days and most importantly trained some of the biggest names in the Thai PR industry today. ..Another falang made good who put his all into his adopted country, putting far more in than he took out. | Following on our item yesterday about the value in down-to-earth rather than "virtual" stocks at the moment, word has it that Thailand's Siam Cement may be well worth a punt.
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Bangkok: Monday 6th March 2000 |
Another 2-digit bug has hit - this time at Ozzie petrol stations. With the OZ dollar down to almost $US 0.60 from 68c not too long ago and the spiraling cost of oil, cost per litre to "fil-er-up" is nudging OZ $1.00. Petrol pumps can only handle 2 digits - meaning operators can't pass on the full increase due to them. Seems the average cost of converting to 3 digits is around $25,000 per outlet. Now, a truly rugged outback innovative entrepreneur would of course whip out the black texta pen, add a dot after the first column, a zero after the second and divide everything by 10. ...No problems mate!.. | Did you know? - 85% of real-estate property in Singapore is owned by the government | Thailand's first Senate election returned high quality candidates in Bangkok, but voting in the provinces was characterized by vote buying, free feasts, vote-rigging and patronage. The cost of a vote in Thailand ranges roughly from 10 Baht (approx 25 US cents) in the Eastern and Northern provinces to 200 Baht in Bangkok. The new Thailand will not be built in a day... | He's got a little list: China premier Zhu Rongji emphasized yet again that the battle against graft should be waged at the highest level, opening the annual session of parliament. The serious manner in which Chinese leaders are attacking corruption is causing uncertainty, consternation and much wringing of hands in traditional mainland business from Shanghai to Beijing to the provinces. Strong connections in the communist party have in the past guaranteed immunity from accountability. High profile businessmen with strong connections, traditionally above the law, have already been hauled before the people. Expect surprises to continue as Zhu Rongji's continues to scroll down his little list and make the punishment fit the crime... We're sure they wont be missed... | The Asia Recovery Information Center (ARIC) offers daily news on the Asian recovery, good hard data in the form of ARIC's 40 social, economic and financial indicators, and country foci on Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. | Companies who actually make something real are suffering with lack of investment as the dot.com craziness truly takes hold in Asia. New Hong Kong start up - Chinese language tom.com was over-subscribed 600 times. Tom.com itself can boast the highest standards of management and credibility but caution is advised in the internet sector generally. It was inevitable that the dot.com wave would engulf Asia - but there are major problems, including lack of local expertise, conservative and moribund management (by far the greatest threat), and cultural barriers to overcome. Interest is copycat and reflexive rather than reasoned. The wise investor will note that industrial stocks are increasingly becoming under-valued and that in the end, a real portfolio may well be better than virtual one... | Asia Banker Interactive has much useful information for banking and finance professionals. |
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Bangkok: Friday 3rd March 2000 |
Friday arvo and the streets of Bangkok are clogged as the half of this great metropolis which are officially resident elsewhere go home. What's the deal? - no its not a Buddhist holiday - nor is it Songkran quite yet. The tattered, gaudy, pasted and posted-up election posters tacked on everything that doesn't move and much that does, offering mugshots of all those partaking in the greatest party in Thailand for a long time, gives a clue...
In the first-ever Senate elections in the land of the free, voting is compulsory - relieving yourself of the democratic privelage of voting results in fines and not being able to sign petitions and the like. The almost 10% of Malaysian eligible voters that didn't make the roles for the Malaysian shindig last November must be green with jealousy... Yet it's not such a big thing - Australia has a similar compulsory voting system as do several other democracies. The cruncher is you have to vote in your home province. Bangkok, one of the region's great national city magnets, like Jakarta, Sydney, Mexico City and Manila, is full of people who don't really live here, hence the mass exodus as the citizenry carry out one of the more boring responsibilities of living in a free state. Even the King is entitled to vote under the constitution, though he is not forced to as constitutional lawyers advised earlier this week.
The faces staring at you from the posters don't smile much. Garbed in such imprimateurs of "face" and achievement as military uniforms, academic hoods, and the uniform of commerce - the Gucci suit - they offer their ballot number unsmilingly. ...For the first elected senate is a SERIOUS matter. In fact it's so serious that alcohol is banned from 6pm tonight to midnight on Saturday. That's right - during this "One Night in Bangkok", an oyster is about all you can slip down your throat that will gladden the spirit. (Well there's actually a few places where you can down a coldie courtesy of a compliant copper but letting you in on the establishments wont quite be playing the game right? - Don't even email...) The reasoning of course is that it's possibly better to vote sober, than plain "mau mak". We politely demur - at least voting drunk you won't be able to remember which of the corrupt pollies you actually voted for later on, and up North and East, you can forget who slipped that 10 Baht note onto your voting slip. No slipping into the local on Saturday night either to celebrate the elections - alcohol bans continue 6 hours after the polling booths close.
Still more electoral-cultural exotica from Thailand: An upsurge in pre-voting didn't receive congratulatory plaudits from authorities and the man on the soi - the first suspicion was that something well - fishy - was going on... Indeed 35 candidates have already been blacklisted for breaking rules such as campaigning in the non-campaign period and vote-buying. Now people are hoping that there will be enuff winning candidates left to make up the 200 person Senate.
But thank God for Thai elections! Nothing can beat the pure exhiliration and colorful debate of one of the most enthusiastic and anarchic democractic elections in the world. In the end, as always, in a culture that is so resiliant that it can survive coups, corruption, chaos, Chang & Chevalit, Thailand will come out smiling...
So that's it for a slightly different Hari Ini today - just excuse us while we whip down the pub before 6pm....
Note: The Thai Senate election is being covered by the Nation, with considerably more depth and style than us. Real-time results throughout the weekend...
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Bangkok: Wednesday 1st March 2000 |
Gus goes Gila: Indonesian chief honcho Abdurahman Wahid was fond of saying last year that first Indonesian President Sukarno was "mad about women", second pres. Soeharto was "mad about power", and that then incumbent pres. Habibbie was "just plain mad". Lately he's added a fourth - Gus himself "turns people mad" he says, with the characteristic twinkle in this eye. Nothing could be closer to the truth in the past 2 weeks. First the Malaysian press reports with glee that Indonesia has asked Mahathir to assist Indonesian economic efforts, - a sensible thing to do given Mahathir's sucess in integrating Chinese business and the common Malay culture in both countries for sure, though this was not a vindication of Mahathir's methods of siliencing political opposition as the Malaysian press attempted to suggest. Secondly, during the UNCTAD flop in Bangkok, he backs up Mahathir's politically-inspired view that the Asian crisis was a Western attempt to slow South East Asian growth. Finally he topped it all off by inviting Kissinger, the very man who encouraged the invasion of Timor, to help as well. Foreign political analysts in particular are shaking their heads at how impossible it is to pigeon-hole Wahid into traditional and convenient categories - the easiest being that he is mad, forgetful, senile or at the least inconsistent. Madness is a matter of perception however. Traditional theories of political personality don't work with a man who is breaking all the rules with a rojak though surprisingly integrated mix of gentle, authoritative, and neophyte authority. The clear message through the madness is that Gus Dur is in the pockets of no-one, and is willing to listen (though not necessarily act on the advice) of anyone who wishes to help, regardless of politics or ideology. And as he has proven with Soeharto and Wiranto, it is more blessed (and pragmatic) to forgive.. ...though not forget... | If you've ever wondered what the Nordic School of Management Thought is, visit EmeraldNow's spotlight, which this month presents an interview with Dr Christian Grönroos, the guy reponsible for this new buzz. Insightful comments on why North American approaches to marketing sometimes fail in Europe. Good parallels for Asian marketors. | A Kenyan handle on globalization from Kenya's Instutute of Management. | Malaysia's UMNO are out to show Malays who defected to the more religiously-based opposition party PAS in recent elections what good Muslims they are by launching a new Islam tellie channel. We reported 2 years back that Mahathir canned a proposal for a new TV channel because "there were already enough", and "more channels would make it harder to put the government's views across". Later transmission times were canned because good Malaysians should be in bed by midnight, though 6 months later one channel was allowed to broadcast those American TV shopping shows in the wee hours. US accents; audiences going into paroxysms of ecstacy over free gifts and 20% discounts; crazed consumers that even water cannons and tear gas won't slow down, and western consumerism run amok... All allowed - though cleavages are modestly pixelated into oblivion... | Excellent business news page at I know Asia.
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