From stockbroker to selling ePetrol, goldmine for Rashid?

Ask yourself if you’ve voted the opposition namely DAP, PKR or PAS during the 12th general election three months ago and if the answer is “yes” then give a round of applause to yourself. I was pretty sure there were hidden hands at work in manipulating the price of rice ever since the Padiberas Nasional Berhad (KLSE: BERNAS, stock-code 6866) was given the exclusive right as the sole importer and distributor of rice in the country but strangely controlled by politician. Compared to fuel price, the impact of escalating rice prices could be seen as minimal.

Supposing the government won the general election with more than 90% seats again, can you imagine what will be the fuel prices today? So, thanks to your support (in voting opposition) the government simply can’t increase the fuel price as and when it likes. If the government couldn’t care less by increasing the petrol price by a whopping RM0.30 a liter when the oil prices were at $60 a barrel, I would be over-generous to estimate that the government would have increased it by RM1.00 a liter to RM2.92 a liter based on current global oil prices of above $130 a barrel. But knowing the arrogance and corruptness of the government, even RM3.92 a liter could be an understatement. Thank God you voted the opposition to at least show the power of Makkal Sakti.

Now, at least the government is being forced to use their brains to formulate a better way to tackle the fuel price issue. The latest proposal was the use of MyKad to determine if you’re qualified for fuel or petrol subsidy via ePetrol solution. It was reported that ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd's fuel subsidy management module has the capability and flexibility to accept any set of rules to effectively monitor, manage and control fuel subsidies down to the individual consumer level. You can basically pay with debit, credit or prepaid payment services.

All you need to do is to insert your MyKad into the petrol pump reader, pumps the amount of fuel needed (or available from the information shown) and you’re set to go. Somehow it works like a credit or mobile prepaid system – you’re allowed to enjoy the subsidy based on a total amount pre-determined. This leads to the question of how much of fuel subsidy would be allocated and what are the basis for applying such formula on an individual. It would be difficult, not to mention silly to say Tom is entitled RM400 of subsidized petrol per month but Dick gets to enjoy $700 a month. A salesman would scores more mileage than a normal administration officer.

The government is highly likely to replace the existing research octane number (RON) 92 and 97 with RON 95 and 99. Whether it is worthwhile to abuse the use of ePetrol solution depends very much on the price difference for both RON 95 and 99. Users of RON 99 will likely to be punished with high price to compensate for the RON 95’s subsidy because majority is expected to have no choice but to settle for the lower quality. However there’s a group of people who might abuse such system. Millions of illegal immigrants especially those that have outnumbered even the local people of Sabah but was granted MyKad under project Dr M could see this as an opportunity to buy and sell (or renting their MyKad) petrol for quick profits. In option trading we call this the “spread” and market makers make good money from such difference.

And don’t forget that freaking rich bosses might be stingy enough to ask their drivers to use their MyKad to fill-up their Benz or BMW tanks with subsidized fuel. On the other hand I can ask my neighbor’s son or daughter to fill up my tanks as well. Can the government guarantee that credits stolen using clone MyKad chips will be compensated? I know if someone cloned my CitiBank credit card to pump in petrol, I just need to make a report or deny such transaction and their “system” is intelligent enough to verify my claims and offset the transaction automatically.

Who owns ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd? Surprisingly one of the owners is Tan Sri Rashid Hussain (founder of RHB, Rashid Hussain Berhad) while the other owner is Dialog Group Bhd chairman and group MD Ngau Boon Keat. Just what the heck is a former stockbroker doing selling petrol? How much would the investment for such system for all the petrol kiosks? Somebody is set to make huge profit out of ePetrol solution.

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• Learn from Mistakes - better days ahead for Transmile

Tiger at Home but Useless and Hopeless against Outsiders

Actually the article I wrote yesterday was rather long, too long that I need to split it into two or three articles. Although both, of which the second part will be revealed in this article, seemed to be of different topics it was in actual fact related - it’s about Jaguh Kampung or Village Champions. You might argue that Malaysia does not have any more top brains to fight for the nation’s own sovereignty (as in the case of Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Puteh) because the government was so successfully with their “brain-drain” program to shoo away intellectuals. But why didn’t the country engage lawyer VK Lingam *grin*? This guy might be corrupt and arrogant to the highest level but at least he could deliver the result and by the time Singapore discovered that all the judges from the ICJ (International Court of Justice) were “fixed” from day one, it would be 20 years late so what the heck right *grin again*?

Anyway, about 10 years ago I often drove to this place to buy pirated-VCD. Yes, I know I shouldn’t promote piracy but it was the buzz and almost a sin to not own any pirated VCD during those days. This place by the name of Desa Setapak was probably the VCD-heaven within the whole Klang Valley. You could almost swear that there were hundreds of stalls selling VCD, naturally converted the parking lot into what seemed to be a bazaar. And when I asked how they could evade the law enforcer, DBKL, almost everytime, the young chap (seller) just smile and said everything had been “settled”. Sometimes you could see even the DBKL themselves were busy choosing the latest VCD on sales, during the pirated-VCD glory days. Of course those happy days were history and the memory of the stalls normally flashed in together with the infamous pink-colored mini-buses.

Desa Setapak also exist for another reason – cheap foods from hawker stalls at the infamous four-corner surrounding the roundabout. Many poor students whose applications to local universities were rejected despite good result ended up in TAR-College. And this place was sentimental to almost all TARC graduates because somehow the cheap foods in Desa Setapak fed them. But it appeared all these 20-year-old hawker centers are gone, vanished into the air because DBKL somehow decided it was time to show their power (brutality). DBKL bull-dozed the decades-old hawker center for obvious reason – the previous MP Yew Teong Look lost the seat to opposition Wee Choo Keong and its payback time.

The sudden vengeance action shown by DBKL could be due to two reasons. The first reason could be because the new MP Wee asked DBKL to investigate whether developer Platinum Victory Sdn Bhd had all the required approvals for its housing projects. Platinum Victory was a newcomer and it was puzzling how the company gained vast amount of lands (near the lake at Danau Kota) during the previous administration. If the Grand Saga could mobilize police troops to spray tear-gas at innocent Bandar Mahkota Cheras residents, I guess the action by DBKL to pull down Desa Setapak’s hawker centers was justifiable.

The second reason could be the loser (previous MP) was at work to punish the voters. One has to remember that this curly-hair ex-MP was the same person who started the chair-throwing at MCA assembly (can you guess under whose instruction?) during the MCA internal fight between Team-A and Team-B. So he’s someone you don’t want to mess around unless you fancy your head gets beaten.His career skyrocketed and was made Territories Ministry parliamentary secretary. It’s hard to imagine this guy will just keep quiet and play PS3 at home after the defeat. Strangely from the hearsay I gotten, most of the hawkers whom their stalls were demolished were MCA diehard fans.

As blogged by Wee Choo Keong in his blog one Azlan bin Abdullah from Jabatan Perancang (Planning Agency) was the person who ignored directives from Ketua Pengarah DBKL and sent the demolition team. Despite the stay of action for 14 days given by Ketua Pengarah DBKL, it was mind-boggling to read the excuse given by Azlan’s immediate superior, Mahadi - he did not read SMS sent 5 (five) days ago by his boss Datuk Hj Salleh, Ketua Pengarah DBKL. Whether Mahadi and Azlan are working alone under different payrolls to suppress the innocent citizen or the whole gang including the Ketua Pengarah DBKL, the developer and loser-MP were equally involved, this is a classic example of Bully cum Jaguh Kampung (Village Champions) oppressing innocent citizens.

Don't you wish the authorities were as efficient as this bunch of DBKL demolition-men in taking down the structures built by Singapore to show the country’s sovereignty on Pulau Batu Puteh years ago. Can you imagine how havoc could it be if the Anwar-led Pakatan rakyat (People's Pact) managed to topple the current government this year? Why only knows how to bully your own people but was helpless and hopeless against outsiders (Singapore)? If this is not Jaguh Kampung or Village Champions, I do not know what is.

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• An island for Singapore, rocks for Malaysia – Amazing!
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An island for Singapore, rocks for Malaysia – Amazing!

I almost fell off my chair, not because I was extremely sad that Malaysia lost her island but from the extreme laugh, probably one of funniest episodes - the verdict of 28-year territorial dispute on a small island. The International Court of Justice’s 12-4 decision in favor of Singapore on Pulau Batu Puteh (known as Pedra Branca to Singapore) was actually a slap on Malaysia’s face, considering that the small island is merely 7.7 nautical miles from Malaysia but is a whopping 25.5 nautical miles from Singapore. The fact is Malaysia has just lost her sovereignty on Pedra Branca.

What made the whole thing amusing was that Malaysia Foreign Minister Rais Yatim actually has the cheek to declare it was a win-win situation. You meant you prefer some rocks over an island, never mind the dispute area consists of only 8,560 square meters? Whether you like it or not Pedra Branca is an island, thus the name “Pulau” Batu Puteh. No wonder Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was pleased with the verdict because Singapore won an island while Malaysia won some rocks. That’s right! Malaysia won Middle Rocks which loosely translated to rocks – that’s how the name Middle Rocks comes into the picture in the first place, no?

And why did Malaysia lost the island? There’re three reasons but the main and most important reason was a reply from a Johor state official saying that the state did not have sovereignty over the island. International Court of Justice case acting President Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, when delivering the court's decision in The Hague yesterday, said Johor initially had sovereignty over the island but subsequently lost its ownership to Singapore because of above reasons. I’m speechless but I only can conclude that Malaysia deserve it because of laziness and stupidity. Too lazy to respond to Singapore’s conduct on the island and too stupid in sending a reply denying sovereignty which costs the island.

Malaysia did not only lose the island but also all natural resources and minerals in the territorial waters of Pedra Branca. But could the result be any difference if Malaysia engaged better lawyers. Singapore engaged two top international lawyers - Professor Alain Pellet of the University of Paris X-Naterre and Queen's Counsel Ian Brownlie. On the other hand, the team from Malaysia comprising Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and his son Federal Counsel Faezul Adzra Gani Patail had to resort to using a blog’s unverified photo of Pedra Branca (Right) to present their case to the judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The blog was said to be newly created and the jokes were that Malaysia was so complacent (arrogant?) and ill-prepared that they have to resort to present false evidence.

Maybe Malaysia government thought it could win the case easily since the top brain AG Abdul Gani Patail was leading the team. Furthermore how many lawyers in the world could make a public announcement that only three people and no others are involved in the murder case (Altantuya), even before the trial started? If this was not a show-case of top-brains I do not know what is *grin*. Perhaps Malaysia Attorney General should be confined to domestic case only such as to suppress oppositions or anyone who dare to question the government’s policy and nothing else. That was the AG’s specialization area so do what he was good at. What a bunch of arrogant “Jaguh Kampung” or Village Champions – simply unbelievable!

BIDU stock trend reversing? Cool! A New Asian Tiger

Netease.com Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES, stock), a leading Chinese Internet and online game service provider, reported its first-quarter profits fell 10% due to higher tax charges from a new income tax law despite a jump in revenue. Shares of NTES sold off sharply by 6% to $22.60. The weakness in shares of NetEase.com spilled over into China's search engine giant Baidu.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU, stock) – what did they say about when it rains it pours? Traders pushed shares of BIDU down by 5.6% to $335.

So, when you saw such opportunity you simply just can’t ignore it, can you? Scalped the BIDU Jun 340 Put Option, entered my limit price to sell (close) and once it got triggered, there’s another happy person for the day. If the latest reverse in trend is true, then you should start filling up your bullets as well because the next support is $300, that’s $35 bucks down and a great vacuum for you to make money. If you still do not know what I’m talking about, the support of $350 had been breached yesterday after BIDU found the $380 too tough a target to push, silly.

Having said that, Baidu.com could be teasing you and it was a temporary setback after the disappointment from Netease’s earnings. Just keep you eyes wide and open on this stock and scalp it whenever the opportunity presents itself. It was not many months ago when everyone scream about China’s stocks. Suddenly everyone is quiet. One of the smartest investment firms, Goldman Sachs, appeared to have found a new sparking diamond and it’s neither China nor India. This new country was said to have the potential of GDP growth at 8% per annum from 2007 to 2020. It’s not Malaysia, silly you.

This country, dubbed the "The Next Asian Tiger in the Making" and the "Next Economic Miracle" is none other than Vietnam. Yeah right, everyone knew that but how to take advantage of it even if the research by Goldman Sachs is true? You can’t because it’s hard to find a Vietnam-related stock listed in U.S. stock exchange, let alone a pure-play stock. But you can see lots of American companies such as Intel and General Electric, not to mention many more Japanese companies have setup their business playground there. Can someone please wakes Malaysia up from its’ fantasy dream?

The Richest Malaysians, Robert Kuok scored the perfect 10

The Malaysians who made it to the richest list is out as compiled by Forbes Asia. Leading the list is the undisputed sugar king Robert Kuok who made the score of US$10 billion, up by $2.4 billion. If only he could put someone else other than the idiot politician who was the former president of MCA (you know who) to take care of Transmile, his fortune is definitely higher than $10 billion. As for Ananda, well, what else can I say? Interestingly, Robert Kuok and Lee Shin Cheng’s fortune jumped tremendously thanks to palm oil from Wilmer International and IOI respectively.

It appeared the iron chef Vincent Tan (his fortune tripled) managed to cook up his shares to qualify for the billionaire clubmembership. I’m rather surprise that the brother of deputy Prime Minister, Nazir Razak managed to squeeze in for the last place as the 40th richest person in Malaysia as I always thought his fortune is more than $100 million. Not sure if his elder brother would be laughing at him and say “What is this? Told you to join me in politics, $100 million is peanuts to me”.

I’m sure there’re many names that are stranger to you. Can’t blame you because people will only know the top-3, at most the top-10 but top-40 *scratching head*? Also made it to the top-40 is a royalty who is the daughter to a Sultan. See if you could spot her:

1. Robert Kuok - $10 billion (Kuok Empire, Shangri La, Wilmer International etc)
2. Ananda Krishnan - $7.2 billion (Maxis, Astro)
3. Lee Shin Cheng - $5.5 billion (IOI Group)
4. Teh Hong Piow - $3.5 billion (Public Bank)
5. Lee Kim Hua & family - $3.4 billion (Genting Berhad, widow of late Lim Goh Tong)
6. Quek Leng Chan - $2.4 billion (Hong Leong Group, Guoco Group)
7. Yeoh Tiong Lay & family - $2.1 billion (YTL Corp)
8. Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary - $1.8 billion (MMC, Johor Port, Malakoff)
9. Vincent Tan - $1.3 billion (Berjaya Group)
10. Tiong Hiew King - $1.1 billion (Rimbunan Hijau)
11. Azman Hashim - $700 million (AmCorp Group, formerly Arab-Malaysia)
12. William H. J. Cheng - $660 million (Lion Group, Parkson)
13. Lee Swee Eng - $495 million (KNM Group)
14. Ong Beng Seng - $470 million (Hotel Properties Ltd, Natsteel)
15. Lim Kok Thay - $345 million (son of late Lim Goh Tong, Genting Berhad)
16. Vinod Sekhar - $320 million (Petra Group, known for its Green Rubber Global)
17. Lee Oi Hian - $300 million (Kuala Lumpur Kepong or KLK)
18. Yaw Teck Seng - $295 million (Samling Group)
19. Anthony Fernandes - $290 million (AirAsia, Tune Hotels)
20. Mokhzani Mahathir - $285 million (Kencana, authorized Porsche importer son of former permier Mahathir)
21. Kamarudin Meranun - $280 million (AirAsia, Tune Hotels, Tony Fernandes’s lover *grin*)
22. Jeffrey Cheah - $275 million (Sunway Group)
23. Lee Hau Hian - $250 million (Batu Kawan, KLK, brother of Lee Oi Hian)
24. Chong Chook Yew - $245 million (Selangor Properties, widow – son is MD now)
25. Yaw Chee Ming - $240 million (Samling Group, son of Yaw Teck Seng)
26. G. Gnanalingam - $230 million (Westports Malaysia)
27. Lim Wee Chai - $200 million (Top Glove, world’s largest rubber gloves manafacturer)
28. Kua Sian Kooi - $195 million (Kurnia Asia, insurance)
29. Lau Cho Kun - $185 million (Malaysian Mosaic)
30. Abdul Hamed Sepawi - $180 million (Ta Ann, timber conglomerate)
31. David Law Tien Seng - $165 million (Australian iron ore MidWest, T.S. Law Holdings)
32. Tiah Thee Kian - $163 million (TA Enterprise)
33. Liew Kee Sin - $160 million (SP Setia)
34. Ahmayuddin bin Ahmad - $155 million (Westports Malaysia)
35. Eleena Azlan Shah - $150 million (Gamuda – largest individual shareholder)
36. Lin Yun Ling - $145 million (Gamuda – founder and MD)
37. Ong Leong Huat - $130 million (OSk Group)
38. Lim Thian Kiat - $115 million (former head of Multi-Purpose)
39. Khoo Kay Peng - $110 million (MUI, U.K. retailer Laura Ashley)
40. Nazir Razak - $100 million (Bumiputra Commerce Holdings, brother of deputy PM)