Daily commentary on Asian business strategy, management, market research, marketing tips, business prospects, economic and culture news. Market prospects. Economic prospects. Short reviews, links, advice, satire and topical coverage for international and Asian managers doing business in Asia.

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)

Jakarta Indonesia: Thursday September 27th 2001

There is something disconcerting about flying into Jakarta reading from the complimentary copy of the Asian Wall Street Journal thoughtfully provided by Garuda ($350 Singapore $ return ex Singapore compared to $580 on Singapore Airlines) that Americans in Indonesia are scrambling to book tickets out...

Your faithful correspondent being Australian I trust that my Akubra hat will alert any extremists targeting my hotel that I am indeed not American. Not that Australians I guess are viewed as any better... There is East Timor of course.. and some Afghan boat people we turned around and blamed Indonesia for.. It seems that a couple of days ago some militant groups rounded up Americans in top hotels in the central Java town of Surakarta and suggested they "go home". The implication is things would get difficult if America invaded Afghanistan.. and indeed the Jakarta Post this morning reports that "...police are hesistant to act on militants..."

Yet, things seem normal in downtown Jakarta - this bustling soulful town which many who visit grow to love for it's friendly people, it's multicultural mileau drawing people from the over 200 ethnic groups scattered around this great archipelago, it's rattly old buses - pecel lele, sup buntut and sate in road side tents - and the rambling individual architecture of inner city residential areas. And that's not to forget of course, the sweet aroma of kretek (Indonesian clove cigarettes) that assaults the senses as soon as your arrive at the airport.

It's been a few months since we were last here, and we look forward to providing on-the-street reports from Jakarta and then Bandung over the next few days.

Meanwhile, IDEAGLobal reports that Singapore and Thailand are the most vulnerable Asian economies in terms of growth lost in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US. IDEAGLobal expect the 10 Asian economies surveyed to lose between 1 and 2.4 percent in GDP growth next year due to the effects of the attack. Six quantifiable areas were identified - "...a slide in exports, a rise in oil prices, the impact on portfolio flows, a fall in foreign investment, a reduction in tourism, and the closure of primary markets..". The report notes that "the primary channel through which the market sees Asia as being affected by the attacks is economic".. and that direct security risks were seen as relatively unimportant.

Which side are you on?: We tend to agree with IDEAGlobal on the six economic factors, but urge that secondary security factors should not be ignored. The geopolitics of relationships between Muslim influenced governments from the moderates in South East Asia like Indonesia and Malaysia, to Pakistan, and Middle East and Central Asian countries to countries with substantial Muslim minorities like the Philippines and Thailand, is complex and fragile.

Already Malaysia has expressed support for the US led policy, but at the same time adds strong riders on the Palestinian situation and US "arrogance". The leader of Malaysia's powerful fundamentalist opposition party has already said the attacks were "Allah's will". It was also reported that the deputy PM in Indonesia also said something similar, but this was either not publicised, followed through, or he withdrew as there was little publicity in the mainstream press. Given major disagreements even within tolerant Islam dominated governments, and relationships between Islam countries will come under even more severe strain as America almost bullies governments to state which side they are on. See Implications for Asian Economy and Business of the War Against Terrorism for the Chao Phraya River Rat view.

Being grateful for small mercies: Perhaps the best evidence that US President George Bush has a firmer grip on reality than many feared came not from the carefuly crafted speeches and spins from the best PR that the world's major superpower can buy, but his own less carefully scripted off-the-cuff comments. Less reported than the latter spins, is his comment made to a small group of US senators and Business Week (US) Chief political correspondent Howard Fineman - "I'm not gonna fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt."

Friend of the forum Frank Yu from Ion Global Research provides an interesting selection of articles on the Internet in Asia, and management in general. Thanks Frank...

For those who missed it, the Far Eastern Economic Review's survey of the best employers in Asia resulted in the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai topping the list followed by sister hotels in Singapore (Rank of 3) and Hong Kong (8). It is the result of a six month research effort, involving 355 companies and more than 92,000 employees in nine countries. Sixteen of the top 20 employers are multinationals, and as the FEER says itself there are few "blue chips" in the lists. - "...there is no special magic to being a best employer. It doesn't necessarily take money, size or market brawn. Rather, an enlightened human-resources policy and leadership that is committed to its employees. Being a good employer is more than just being a good boss--it's an institutional thing, not an individual thing...". For all results, including rankings by country, full methodology, and interpretation it all starts here.

Kuala Lumpur: Friday September 21st 2001

Asian stock markets were down by around 2.5% to over 5% in today's trading. Those countries most exposed to conflict in Central Asia were affected the most, as well as the most open economies like Hong Kong and Singapore. European stock markets followed up with up to 6% losses, and US markets opened with the DOW down 3.5% and NASDAQ down 5% after only 20 minutes of trading. Clearly, the most significant factors at work worldwide are the ever increasing likelihood of conflict in Central Asia and recessionary trends in the US.

Kuala Lumpur: Thursday September 20th 2001

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a film director, in a June 2001 article in The Iranian, writes.. "... if you read my article in full, It will take about an hour of your time. In this hour, 14 more people will have died in Afghanistan of war and hunger and 60 others will have become refugees in other countries..."

The Taliban is not Afghanistan. They are a group of extremist Muslims that took over the country attempting to build a model fundamentalist Muslim state. They shelter Osama bin Laden in return for finance. Mohsen Makhmalbaf's piece is perhaps the most important article about Afghanistan you will ever read.

Nine days after the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and Washington's Pentagon, the threat to international order by both the fanatical perpetrators and America's initial response is significant and ominous. Last night the US stock market performed a dramatic reversal from around 6% on the day to less than 2% in the space of a few hours as evidence that American forces were mobilizing fast reached the ears of investors.

In Thursday's trading, Asian markets moved South on news that a strike on Aghanistan was becoming more likely, and continued poor market trends in East Asia including spending in Japan, and concerns about the export market to the US.

During the past few days, several of our columnists have focused on terrorism, the implications for Asia and Islam, and how it is affecting life as we know it in Asia. Most new items are posted on the right hand side of the Asian intelligence ezine page, updated daily, but for those who do want a full list to date it is provided at the end of this section.

However, we also provide here some suggested resources for following both traditional, magazine and news related to these events.

See our Map of Asia (180 Kbs) showing Afghanistan and it's proximity to Pakistan.

News is free, which provides several of our regular news feeds has a comprehensive news feed page providing the latest headlines and abstracts from many sources on the WTC disaster. This is perhaps the most comprehensive and up to date though it takes a few more seconds to load. Articles are updated every 10 minutes or so.

You can find a more US-centric view from the LRX WTC newstand, again specifically on the World Trade Center aftermath.

Pakistan is the country most affected by developments after Afgahnistan and the US itself. A good source is the Pakistan newspaper Dawn - this page providing the latest news direct from Pakistan.

For news direct from Afghanistan try My Afghan. Finally for analytical articles from sources such as Asia Week, Far Eastern Economic Review and International Herald Tribune (Asia-Pacific) try our Asian Business and MArket Research News Portal, and also our listings of Asian newspapers.

From Clarence Henderson's Pearl of the Orient Seas, Apocalypse on September 11th - America again has a clear cut enemy, an enemy that may, if not contained, overshadow the evil embodied in earlier-generation bad guys - the Kaiser, der Führer, the Red Menace...

From the Chao Phraya River Rat - Implications for Asian Economy and Business of the War Against Terrorism Analyses the implications of terrorist attacks in the USA for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan. Islam terrorist strongholds, trade and economic growth.

The War Against Terrorism: America's Two Wars America is fighting two "wars" here. One is a legitimate international offensive against terrorism. The other is a local campaign to regain face for surely America's strengths have proven this time to be their weaknesses. Osama bin Laden or terrorism?

Terrorism, Islam, America, and the language of War The politics of the language of war, the fight between good and evil, and reference to crusades, can do far more damage in the long run, Mr Bush, than Osama bin Laden ever will..

Kuala Lumpur: Saturday September 1st 2001

Thanks to Mike Krus at News is Free for helping us get our hourly updated Asian business, finance, culture, and political feeds working again. News is Free provides one of the finest solutions for accessing independent news from leading, authoritive, and unique sources. Our newsisfree news feeds can be accessed from the right hand column of the Asia Business Strategy Ezine and many other places.

Singapore: Monday August 20 2001

Dr Paul Temporal, author of "Branding in Asia" and Strategic Positioning, editor of the Branding Asia Web Site and editorial advisor for the Asia Pacific Management Forum is presenting a 2 Day Seminar on Positioning for Brand Success at the Grand Hyatt Singapore from 22nd to 23rd August. Only a couple of days to register through Partners Conference and Event Management Singapore at enquiries@asiaone.com, by telephone at (65)320 8348 or Fax at (65)583 7106.

Not a great start for the week for Asian stock markets, with all major indicies down apart from Manila and Jakarta. At around midday Hong Kong time, the Nikkei was down about 1%, and the Hang Seng down almost 3%. Notably, economies dependent on technology are hardest hit following the NASDAQ's 3% fall on Friday.

Hari Ini will resume normal daily updates Wednesday August 22nd after our annual spring clean. Hari Ini provides an original daily wrap up of Asian business, economic, political, marketing and social trends news from a strategic business and marketing perspective. It includes research data and news, analysis, and street intelligence from our network in Asia and beyond.

Also look late this week for new Thailand Tales columns from Kriengsak, a Thailand economic overview, the critical skills for a market research focus group moderator, and the Chao Phraya River Rat reports on global competitiveness of Asian nations.