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Friday 24 September 2010

Malaysian Aspiration Program

Tomorrow (Saturday), there will be a talk at the Elizabeth Murdoch Theatre in Melbourne University, organised by MASCA [Malaysian Students' Council of Australia] at noon (Australian time). A few speakers have been invited:

1. Tony Pua (MP for Petaling Jaya Utara)
2. Tunku Abidin (Founding President of IDEAS)
3. Prof Abdul Razak Ahmad (National Defence University Malaysia)

However, I'm not so sure about whether the Deputy Finance Minister, Awang Adek, will be coming or not for tomorrow.

The topic will be as follows:

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES IN ATTAINING VISION 2020

It's gonna be an interesting talk tomorrow. I'm so gonna bring my camera... And of course, not to forget, pen and book to write down questions to be asked, haha.

Thursday 23 September 2010

Who are I'DA World Group Sdn. Bhd?

Very recently, we heard of the news reported in Berita Harian that this one obscure company called I'DA World Group Sdn. Bhd had donated RM4 billion to PAS in Kelantan. Of course, it was reported that the representative of the Kelantan MB is there to receive the mock cheque. Is Nik Din Nik Mat (younger brother of TGNA) the so-called representative? Nik Din denies it and was there only on his personal capacity of being invited by the company to come to the event.

Ok, let's do a bit of background of this company:

Registration date: 3rd April 2007

Type of business: Investing

Capital allowed: RM1 million (RM1,000,000)
Capital paid: RM1 million (RM1,000,000)

Company status: 100% Bumiputera

Company's bank: Al-Rajhi Bank

Bank groups: Lloyds Bank (England); Standard Chartered (England); Barclays (England); UBS (Switzerland); BNP Paribas (France); Citi Bank (US)

Company groups: 167 giant companies in 117 countries

Group's assets: USD2.716 trillion (or equivalent to RM8.4 trillion)

Company's lawyers: Mr. Rimin b. Haji Maidin

Company secretary: KM Management & Corporate Services Sdn. Bhd

Planning consultant: AECOM South East Asia

Surveyor: Jurukur Teguh

Company's architects: Local (Arkitek Studio Sdn. Bhd); Overseas (Arcop & Partners [Middle East] Engineering Consultants LLC)


More or less, that is the company's profile as stated on its website here: http://idaworldgroup.com.my/Company-Profile.php

Ok, now let's analyse whether it's plausible that they gave the so-called RM4 billion to PAS as alleged by Berita Harian.

1st of all, it is a private limited company. It cannot raise shares from the public as it is a private company. Thus, it cannot have raised as much funds during their start-up back in April 2007.

2nd, it's allowed & paid-up capital is only RM1 million. This in itself raised suspicions about their financial viability to raise even that much money to donate to PAS and to Najib's 1Malaysia concept (as pledged by the company themselves, reported on Malaysiakini). By right, they are supposed to be making super-revenues in the billions of ringgit every year to be able to make that donation, if it ever happened.

3rd, it is 1 of the companies in the group of 167 giant companies with its group assets of up to USD2.7 trillion. What are assets made up of? Cash, cash at bank, debtors, stocks, unpaid revenues, prepaid liabilities, non-business revenues. Now, if any one of you studied business law or corporations law or company law for that matter can understand that a company is a separate entity on its own which can act as a legal person with a mind of its own. They are separate from management. Even being in the group of 167 doesn't mean that they will get billions of USD (or ringgit for that matter) within a space of few years. All the assets in the group are just combined in total. It doesn't mean that every company has USD16.2 billion (rounded) in assets on average. Those companies within the group are of different sizes and doesn't mean that all of them are doing as well as the numbers suggested.

Even within a group of companies, they are not of one company. They are a separate legal entity. Thus, I'DA World Group's assets are different from the other companies' assets within the group. As I've mentioned above, their start-up capital is only RM1 million, and that was only 3 years ago. Even being in a big group of companies such as these, it's not like mi casa es su casa (My house is your house). No, companies do not work like that in the 1st place. If joint venture, yes, maybe. But these are just the combination of the group's assets. If anyone of you ever taken or learned Company Reporting will understand that each of the company's assets are of their own.

So...coming back to the issue. Was it possible that I'DA World Group Sdn. Bhd have that much money to so-called donate RM4 billion to PAS, as alleged on the mock cheque? Being a private limited company, as I said, they are not obliged to publish their financial statements. For them to grow so quickly in a space of 3 years itself is questionable if we don't even know their financial position. Of course, some of you may argue that the group's assets are so much that this company may have been rich as well. But... they are just assets combined. They are not reflective of how much does each company in the group holds in terms of assets.

According to their objectives, they consist of off-shore reclamation, oil refineries, sea ports, development of new townships, etc... http://idaworldgroup.com.my/

Therefore, without any financial statements to show its profits, assets, liabilities, etc... How can we know whether I'DA World Group Sdn. Bhd is worth as much, or more than the donation in the 1st place? How did they obtain those profits in 3 years to make billions? Unless, they are compelled to publish financial statements by its shareholders, then only we can know their true financial position.

Just remember these 3 points people:
1. Their start-up capital is only RM1 million
2. They are only established 3 years ago as a PRIVATE LIMITED COMPANY, which means they cannot raise more equity from the public.
3. The group of assets are just the total assets of all the companies within the group. It does not state the asset holdings of each of the 167 mega companies & I'DA World Group Sdn. Bhd in this case. In conclusion, this issue will not go away as easy as it first came. However, we cannot come to the conclusion that PAS received RM4 billion, because a mock cheque does not necessarily lead to realisation of the cash. As they say: SHOW ME THE MONEY.

As of now, some UMNO people cry of corruption about this issue (they also have reported to the MACC) and PAS has blacklisted this company for ill-willed purposes in order to destroy their integrity as state government of Kelantan. It'll be interesting to see in the next few days about what comes out of this issue. GET THE POPCORN EVERYONE!

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Internal assessment marks

Managerial Economics:
87/100 --> 26% out of 30%

Financial Management:
4.75% + [63/100 X 15%] = 14.2% out of 20%

That's 2 of my internal assessments known so far...

Thursday 16 September 2010

Suicidal exam timetable

1/11 BTW2220 (9.30am)
2/11 AFW2631 (9.30am)
3/11 ECW2731 (2.30pm)
9/11 ECW2721 (9.30am)

The 1st 3 days ares so close to each other. This is the 1st time my exam timetable has been this tight since university life started out for me. Not to mention I have to take the 7.37am train to Caulfield on the 1st, 2nd and 9th so that I can reach the racecourse by 8.18am, which is where my exam venue would be. I can take the later train for my Managerial Econs on the 3rd, probably around noon or something like that.

But in summary, I'M A DEAD MAN WALKING.


Saturday 4 September 2010

Week 7 nightmare is over

Week 7 nightmare was over. I'm done with my Managerial Economics test and the online Trade Finance test. Why is it a nightmare? Both carried 30% respectively towards the final marks. If I don't do well enough, I won't be doing myself any favours to score HD for the overall subject.

My expectations:
Managerial economics - 21/30 (minimum)
Trade Finance & FOREX - 24/30 (minimum)

Next up is Corporations Law assignment due this Thursday. 3,000 words of crap, and 30% of the final marks. The week after would be my Financial Management mid-semester test, carrying 15% on the occasion. Now I'm so bored doing Corp Law assignment. Sooner or later, I have to finish it.