Palm Oil Has To Meet The Heightened Demands Of Globalisation

The nature of globalisation is that you can sell your goods and services to all corners of the globe, but you will also have to meet "desired standards" imposed by various governments and NGOs. If you are part of the palm oil supply chain, you have to meet the basic requirements. You just cannot say to hell with it. As a seller of goods or services, we just try to meet the changing demands of consumers. Companies and governments of good governance and strong CSR objectives have to do things better, not because it impacts your bottomline but because its the right thing to do.

Powerful activist groups such as Greenpeace knows that on its own it has little leverage to effect a change in corporate behaviour or government policies. The most effective is to exert pressure where the wallets are - the big buyers. Nestle and Unilever are very very big consumers, and they certainly don't need to to be in the limelight for using palm oil that they do not where they come from or how they were cultivated.

Its like Starbucks which tries to jump ahead of the curve by paying a "decent sum" to struggling coffee bean producers in third world countries by cutting out the many layers of middlemen. Its the way of the new world, some may pooh-pooh the high-falutin requirements as increasing the cost of production, etc. but I think we behave the way we do with the information we have. Twenty years ago, the dissemination of information may be poor and our understanding of various issues may be blighted because of the way things are.

The internet has been the great equaliser. Now we know better not to consume sharks fin or goose liver produced by irresponsible farmers. We also know that bears paws and tiger penises are really pretty stupid, unnecessary and diminishes the already vastly diminished fellow earth inhabitants.

I am totally on the side of most Malaysian palm oil producers, we just have to toe the line. We have to set out what is propaganda, unfair demands, with doing what is right. To that end, why is mainstream media again censoring what we should be hearing or learning - there are so many reports out on palm oil deforestation, reports by Greenpeace, Friends of The Earth, Unilever's position, the scathing BBC documentary, etc. Do not try to shield the Malaysian public from information, even when the information may be slanted, respect your fellow citizens a bit la, let us make up our own minds on the issues. I mean, bloody hell, we need not even read about the effects, we have been actually breathing in the fucking open burning all the way from Indonesia - at least let us read about it and know whats fucking up the air that we breathe. The latest rhetoric came from France, although the biggest press circus on the issues came from British press, and many UK firms have been named and shamed already.



PARIS, April 1 (Reuters) - French firms have stepped up restrictions on the use of palm oil, decried for being linked to deforestation in Asia, in a move that may boost demand for local oils but some warned it could raise new food and land problems. The debate about palm oil's impact on the environment has intensified after green groups published reports last month blaming the way key producers were sourcing their oil by destroying rainforests and threatening endangered species. In France it was amplified by a television broadcast that condemned food makers' use of cheap palm oil to cut costs and referring to health concern that its high level of saturated fat could raise cholesterol and heart diseases.

I agree with most of the concerns on the need to have sustainable palm oil policy, but I get mad when these buggers bring up the "saturated fat, high cholesterol and heart diseases" imbalance again. If you want to use that argument, put palm oil next to all cooking oils, then make the same claims. You cannot just say that AirAsia is cheap and excellent, you have to put it next to competitors in the same category and mark off point by point why it is so. If not, anyone can just say that butter clogs your arteries... fullstop ... that is just stupid and is part of the global propaganda waged by the soy bean, rapeseed, etc.. producers.

The British Clampdown

Most British manufacturers and retailers including Boots, Morrisons and Waitrose have done little to limit the environmental damage done by the production of the world's cheapest vegetable oil. In a survey of leading European food and household firms, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that only Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and a handful of other companies had made substantial progress towards sourcing sustainable palm oil.

Continental retailers came out worst in the survey of 59 firms, with many French, German and Dutch chains making no effort to prevent the huge problems caused by the oil's production. The WWF disclosed that 40 of the 59 companies had not bought any oil certified sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (Rspo) – which sets environmental standards for the £16bn-a-year industry, the most important of which is a ban on planting new oil palms in virgin forests.

Of 25 UK companies, 14 had not bought any Rspo oil – Aldi, Associated British Foods, Croda international, Boots, Warburtons, Britannia Food Ingredients, Waitrose, Morrisons, Jordans Ryvita, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benckiser, Co-op, Premier Foods and Tesco. Out of a maximum of 29 points, WWF scored them between 0 and 16.

However, seven British firms were among the best 10 performers Europe-wide, including Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and Cadbury. Among foreign companies, Nestlé, ranked mid-table, this week committed to switching to 100 per cent Rspo oil by 2015.

Unilever
Unilever has stopped accepting palm oil from an Indonesian planter after a damning BBC documentary showing rainforest clearing, according to the Indonesian Palm Oil Board. Unilever, which is part of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), did not have a contract with Duta Palma (a known offender), but had been receiving oil from the planter via traders. Two months ago the consumer goods giant brought an end to a $33m supply contract with Indonesian supplier PT Smart.

Unilever, which uses palm oil in its Flora and Stork margarines, Dove toiletries and Persil washing powder among many other products, announced that it is cutting links with Sinar Mas, Indonesia’s largest palm oil company. Unilever is acting after being shown photographic evidence of Sinar Mas clearing rainforest in protected areas, including reserves for the country’s endangered orang-utan population. It cancelled the £20 million annual contract recently after learning that Greenpeace was about to publish a dossier of evidence. Funnily though, Sinar Mas is part of RSPO???!!!... go figure. The RSPO, which also includes Sinar Mas, is a self-regulation body that aims to prevent illegal forest clearance. Environmental groups have criticised it as toothless and an obstacle to independent scrutiny. To access Unilever's beautifully produced PDF on their sustainable products policies, click here:

http://www.unilever.com/images/Palm%20Oil%20-%20A%20Sustainable%20Future%202002_tcm13-5315.pdf


It pays to read through Unilever's document as it already sets out really what is "required". Companies in the palm oil supply chain basically needs to evaluate every step of their production and distribution processes to make sure they try to comply with the principles set out below - then get a proper certification.

Sustainable agriculture / Our definition
Sustainable agriculture is productive, competitive and efficient, while at the same time protecting and improving the natural environment and conditions of the local communities.

Sustainability principles
Unilever believes that sustainable agriculture should support the following principles:
• It should produce crops with high yield and nutritional quality to meet existing and future needs, while keeping resource input as low as possible.
• It must ensure that any adverse effects on soil fertility, water and air quality and biodiversity from agricultural activities are minimised and positive contributions are made where possible.
• It should optimise the use of renewable resources while minimising the use of nonrenewable resources.
• Sustainable agriculture should enable local communities to protect and enhance their well-being and environments.

Since 1998, we have been measuring data against these indicators on our own plantations and using the findings to benchmark and improve sustainable agriculture best practice for palm oil and other crops. Pamol, Unilever’s palm oil plantation company in Malaysia, follows accepted best practices for management of its operations and is striving to improve sustainability still further. Liquid effluent from its two mills is used as a water feed and fertiliser for trees, reducing the amount of synthetic nutrients needed. Leguminous ground cover is grown to prevent soil loss, fix nitrogen and encourage beneficial insects that are natural predators of tree pests. Owls are encouraged to control rats, and empty bunches from the mills and palm fronds are left to decompose naturally under the trees, providing nutrients and helping to curb weed growth. Steep hillsides are left as natural forest, which provides a wildlife refuge, and hunting is not permitted. In addition, Unilever has formed a small taskforce to develop a more transparent sourcing system and standards for palm oil, including contracts, specifications, quality assurance – tracking and tracing – and best practice criteria for plantations. This taskforce aims to work more closely with suppliers who are able and committed to deliver these criteria and who we also hope share our enthusiasm to see progress in the industry on quality assurance and sustainability.

Unilever is the world’s biggest consumer of palm oil and has pledged to buy only from certified sustainable plantations from 2015. This year, 85 per cent of its palm oil was uncertified. Waitrose said this month that all the palm oil in its own-brand products would be from sustainable sources by 2012.Nestlé has announced its commitment to using only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) by 2015, when sufficient quantities are expected to be available.

The Facts

Fact #1: The growth of the palm oil industry in Indonesia has turned the country into the third-largest emitter of CO2, after China and the US. Indonesia has the fastest rate of deforestation, losing an area the size of Wales every year. Deforestation contributes 15-20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the key issues debated at the Copenhagen climate change summit.

Fact #2: As the world's oil palm is the highest-yielding commercial oilseed, palm oil production offers more vegetable oil per unit of area than other widely-grown crops including soy, canola, or rapeseed. Thus oil palm expansion on abandoned agricultural lands could offer producers a more effective way to sustainably meet growing demand for vegetable oils than with other oilseeds.

Fact #3: Environmentalists are most concerned by palm oil production that comes at the cost of carbon-dense and biologically-rich rainforests and peatlands. Since 1990 more than half of plantation growth has occurred at the expense of natural forests, boosting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the vulnerability of endangered species like orangutans, Sumtran rhinos, pygmy elephants, and Sumatran tigers to extinction in the wild. Plantations have also been strongly associated with social conflict in some areas.

IOI

Unilever said it would not cancel palm oil supply contracts with Malaysia's IOI and that it was confident the planter would address concerns over logging forests raised by a green group. IOI Corp, Malaysia's No. 2 planter, had dismissed the report by Friends of the Earth that it cleared rainforests on Borneo island to expand, saying the allegations were inaccurate.

"We believe IOI is a very responsible supplier and are confident that if there is truth in the current allegations, IOI will address them," Unilever Head of Sustainability Jan-Kees Vis told Reuters in an emailed response on Monday. "There are no plans to cancel any contracts with IOI."

IOI owns about 80,000 hectares of land on the Indonesia side of Borneo island -- a resource rich, forested region that is the frontline for expanding oil palm estates. The Friends of the Earth report also claimed that IOI practiced open burning and drained peatlands, prompting the firm's key customer Neste Oil to say it would conduct its own probe into the matter. IOI supplies palm oil to the Finnish refiner's biofuel plants in Europe.

IOI said in a statement on Friday, without going into the details, that it had set up a clear action list and timeframe to address Friends of the Earth's remaining concerns after meeting with the green group. Both Unilever and Neste Oil have said their supply contracts with palm oil firms include clauses that allow for termination of the agreement if the suppliers are found to be damaging the environment.

Travel and the Environment

We have seen reports on environmental issues as they relate to travel. We have heard rhetoric, statements of intent, proud boasts, thinly veiled self promotion statements and promises of a ‘greener’ future. There have been board level corporate policies, conferences, business ventures linked to sustainability and a large number of ‘holier than thou’ declarations between competing companies. Strange how many of the leading standard bearers might be viewed as causing the problem like the fuel and energy giants But what has really happened?

I do not think much has happened at all and I am not entirely sure it matters that much if the experts are to be believed. By this I mean that if air travel only represents less than 3% of global emission does reducing this small fraction by an even smaller fraction make the slightest difference in the whole sphere of things? Would a large company not contribute more if they turned their lights and computers off at night? After all if you fly over any city at night the place is ablaze with lights.

I suspect environmental issues are going to become just a matter of travel hype like the exaggerated effect of direct sell, technology and vapour-ware were in the recent past. Perhaps more wistful thinking than worthwhile delivery.

My perception of the apparent state of affairs has been colloured by the way sustainability has been slipped onto the back burner while the global recession has been going on. Regardless of what others may say I believe being ‘sustainable’ costs money as you have to invest in it. You also cannot sell if you ground your salesmen.
The only exception to this is companies that need to reduce their travel budget for financial reasons and use environmental issues as a vehicle to do it.

All this may sound cynical from me and maybe it is. I actually believe passionately that we need to do something about the environment but I feel a bit sour when seeing all the hot air being spouted around over travel when the bigger and more significant winning may possibly be neglected. I also object to this issue being used for point scoring and the creation of another large consultancy sales opportunity.

This world has two global threats which are the economy and the environment. I would rather we did not damage the former in order to make an insignificant contribution to the latter when there are so many better ways to do more good. Besides I would be more convinced of commitment if people turned their TVs off standby at night like I do!

Welcome to Lagos

I noticed that there is a TV programme with the above title and that reminded me of a fine welcome I got in the murky past

Someone up there definitely did not like me. He probably sat in the heavens and decided “let us smote him around a bit and bring him down a peg or two”. After all he had been pretty good to me until that moment what with sending me around the world with a bevy of beauties and an expense account without the slightest payback of gratitude. “I know” he said, “why not give him a taste of life in Nigeria”

The first I knew about my impending comeuppance was when I was called into my then leader’s office and smugly informed that I was being transferred to the West Africa Routes office and my new job would involve lots of visits to Nigeria. To start with I would be escorting a group of UK dignitaries on an inaugural flight to it’s southern capital Lagos. My blood froze. Everyone I knew working in that area had either gone weird or eccentric or, in extreme cases, both. For example one chap started keeping chickens in the company house and insisted he was a reincarnation of Tolstoy.

I had passed through Nigeria on a number of occasions in the past and witnessed mundane day to day activities such as robbery, death, squalor and loss of essential services like water, sanitation and all types of power The thought of taking a bunch of top corporate executives on a luxurious fact finding visit to such a place was truly chilling. I think my worst fears were justified.

The first task was to select and invite guests and it was my job to organise liaison and correspondence as well as to finalise their itinerary with our office in Lagos. I was helped in this task by a young lady called Sandra, a beautiful girl that the male population of the office unanimously agreed was ‘sex on legs’ and very reminiscent of Loraine Chase in those old Campari TV advertisements. Unfortunately what she had in beauty was not matched by any ability to converse with industry leaders which is illustrated by when she told a company chairman that “Nah” I could not come to the phone as I had gone to the toilet. She did reassure him that I would not be long as I had not taken my newspaper with me “as per usual”.

Eventually it was all arranged. We had a seriously high profile guest list, most of whom seemed to appreciate talking to Sandra more than me. She even got past their protective P.As which I rarely managed One very well known chap even started sending her bouquets and propositions in the post. In the hearing of one of my colleagues she ultimately told this Chief Executive to “push off” or she would set her boyfriend on him. The big day came and off we went on a brand new DC10 aircraft heading south towards our destiny. The plane was so new that it was still being flown by the McDonnell Douglas delivery pilot who wandered out to see the guests, chewing gum and wearing a cowboy outfit including a Stetson which went down a bomb with our group of traditional British gentlemen.

We arrive and were engulfed by everything that Lagos Murtalla Mohammed had to offer. It was hot. It was humid. The air conditioning was not working and the express customs clearance that we had painstakingly bribed officials for never materialised. It took over 90 minutes to get our soggy guests out of that hell hole however, finally we decanted them all into a surprisingly ancient coach which "belonged to a brother" of our airport manager who was charging a fortune for it. In that part of the world the airport manager is the most powerful company man in the country as he controlled everything from upgrades to off-loading.

Our guests usually get whisked through VIP arrival centres and into limousines so they found the whole experience quite educational. At lest it stopped all the talking about profit margins and PE ratios and moved them on to wagering if the coach would hold out and what the ‘strange noise’ was coming from the back axle. I was more concerned about the recent hold ups on this road as there had been a spate of them recently where large planks full of nailed spikes were thrown in front of vehicles. Thankfully the Badagri Expressway allowed us to pass unhindered and the coach groaned into the EKO Hotel front entrance. It remained there for three days as it never started again.

Check-in was fine. We had been given rooms on the 17th floor which was their most recently decorated floor and all was well until we got to the lifts. They did not seem to be working and nobody knew when they would be fixed. I gestured to my motley sweaty group of dignitaries and we started the slow plod up the stairs. I felt like Hannibal leading his elephants across the Alps. On and on we staggered with people falling by the wayside as they stopped for breaks and I ended up like a shepherd dog with sheep coaxing and bullying them forward.

It took nearly half an hour to reach the 17th floor. It was an interesting human drama and a demonstrated of team spirit as they all joined together to help the stragglers make it at the same time. I felt quite proud and told them so however I was interrupted by the ‘ding’ of the lift bell as a porter emerged out of it with the last of our suitcases. I subsequently found out that it was the porters who had diverted the lifts so that they could transfer the bags up from the basement. It was not something I shared with my wheezing guests.

I barely closed my door before the phone started ringing. Apparently nobody had any running water. I started muttering to myself, a malaise that started then and continues to this day. A feeling of pure helplessness flooded over me and I rang the hotel General Manager for some word of explanation. "Welcome to Lagos" came the helpful reply. Welcome to a bunch of smelly, angry and very important customers I sneered back which at least resulted in a crate of Evian water being deposited outside each of our rooms.

The water debacle continued until early evening when miraculously it started running fitfully and brackish through our taps. I could hear the ironic cheers echoing down the 17th corridor as I settled myself down into the tepid brown puddle in my bath. No sooner had my bottom touched plastic when the phone rang. It was a call from the secretary of one of my group calling from London to advise me that Mr B could not turn his tap off. He had apparently rung her who rang me. I rang the hotel GM who rang maintenance who rang him back. He then rang me and I rang the secretary who rang Mr B to tell him that the taps operate in a different way to England. He was then able to stop the water so he rang her who rang me. I rang the hotel GM who rang maintenance to say the drama was over. I discovered later that Mr B had the room next to mine. Oh the joys of modern cutting-edge communication…and plumbing.

Somehow we all made it through the next three days. Fortunately most of the guests were blessed with a fine sense of humour and also spent most of their days visiting local offices thus passing responsibility onto their own folk. The end of the tour had come and all that remained was to run the gauntlet of the Badagri Expressway and head for dear old Blighty. I have to say I was already relaxing as what more could possibly go wrong once we reached the airport Such folly.

To be fair to the Nigerians they had a conscience about the way we were treated when we arrived so they decided to give us a special send off and boy did they achieve that. It turned out there was a special VIP lounge for royalty and heads of state and they invited us to use it while we waited to board. I wandered off to say thanks to our even richer airport manager and left them all with their glasses of champagne. On my return I was startled to see them all tucking in to some local nibbles and snacks provided by our hosts including some very dodgy looking prawns with a curry coating. One thing I have learned is never eat anything so risky and strange smelling before boarding a busy overnight flight.

It started about 3 a.m. London time somewhere over the Sahara when I was awoken by heated and desperate voices. I observed two of my charges having a pushing match alongside a toilet door and it was turning ugly. Then I saw other shapes in the gloom rising all round me and heading for the lavatories. Out of our dozen or so guests at least nine were suffering from acute food poisoning resulting in terrible stomach gripes and the need to go to the toilet instantly if not sooner. Nine people and two toilets? You can do the maths. It was mayhem. These were people in the public eye, household names and there they were literally fighting each other for the next free cubicle. Not nice and I decided to sink deeper in my seat and let them get on with it.

We arrived back at Gatwick in the early hours looking like a group of third world displaced refugees. Never again I thought. And then I remembered that this was the first of four such trips!

Understanding "Value Trap"

Those who have been in the markets long enough will understand the term "value trap". It is when you buy and hold something for the longest time because there is great inherent value. However the investor does not know when will the hidden values be unlock by management and/or owners.



Hence investors who are wiser will always bear in mind the "value trap", being locked into something for the longest time, sometimes years. I will present two examples:

Kuchai Development

Its basically a holding company. Its got a substantial stake of 26% in palm oil Sg Bagan and a highly attractive 3m shares of Great Eastern (traded now btw S$15-16). All in the total net asset value for Kuchai Development is around RM260m. It has 120.7m shares (50 sen), which makes for a NAV of RM2.15. Guess what's the share price??? Its just 80 sen. How to go wrong?

Technically you have to outlive the owners or wait till they finally decide to do something with their shares. When looking at a value company, the first thing to check is the shareholdings level. For Kuchai:
Kluang Rubber 41.9%
Sg Bagan 9.38%
Lee Foundation 4.18%
Kota Trading 1.77%

The top 3 are basically the same group of people and they made doubly sure they have more than 50% as that will stop anyone thinking of raiding the company. So if someone comes along and collect shares and then make a G.O. at RM1.60, he/she will not succeed as long as the controlling shareholders do not sell. They will probably sell if someone comes along and offer a substantive premium to NAV, say RM2.60-2.80 or thereabouts. The value is in the NAV and then the listing vehicle as a value add.

Once the owner controls more than 50%, there's very little you can do. If you can locate a value company and there is ample free float, plus the controlling shreholder holds less than 40%, then I bet you that many vultures will be cirlcling to take over the company, thus narrowing the gap between NAV and the share price.

It might be OK to hold on forever if the company pays a decent dividend, but in Kuchai's case it paid 0.8 sen in 2008 and 0.45 sen in 2009. If you take the share price of 80 sen, that works out to be a paltry dividend yield of 1% and 0.56%. Really no incentive to own this stock.



I really think that there is a strong case for the SC to come down hard on Kuchai because it does not resemble a normal company with on-going businesses. Its strictly a holding company. It does NOT allow shareholders to participate in the growth of the company, it just holds the stakes forever. It does NOTHINg to extract value from their inherent value. Some may say so is Berkshire Hathaway - in Buffett's case, he actively manages his positions, positions will be sold once they reach above fair value and vice versa. Kuchai's position makes a mockery of being a listed counter - anyone in their right mind would be 100x better off to invest directly into Great Eastern or Sg Bagan - there is absolutely no value to its existence.

Pintaras Jaya

The company recorded revenues of RM165.4m in the fiscal year ended June 2008. Its net profit was MYR23.8m in fiscal 2008, or a net EPS of 29.8 sen. For the year ended June 2009, the company recorded revenue of RM130.3m, a slight drop owing to depressed economic conditions, but still managed to eke out a net profit figure of RM11.4m or a net EPS of 14.3 sen. What was key was that the final quarter, or the period Apr-June 09, saw net profit contribution of RM6.238m, which was more than half of the entire 12 month period. The excellent results carried on in the first quarter of the new fiscal period. For the quarter ended Sep 2009, net profit was RM6.288m. It appears that the company has regained traction. If we were to annualise the results, we should be looking at a net EPS of 24 sen for the year ending June 2010.

Pintaras Jaya is a unique company in a dog-eat-dog industry. Its very conservatively managed, and extremely cash rich, you'd think they are in the 4D gaming business. Just their cash balance on hand, if you add their liquid short term investments, comes to RM93.6m, or a net cash per share backing of RM1.17, unbelievable isn't it. Why no one is covering the stock anymore??? At a share price of RM1.60, it literally meant that 73% of the value is in cash already (how big a font can I make this!!!).

Paid Up: 80m shares
NTA: RM2.19

Distributable retained earnings stood at RM96.76m. A share split and/or a lucrative bonus should be in the offing because the company has always been criticised as very good and prudent, but lacks liquidity.

Pintaras Jaya made the coveted list of Forbes Asia's fourth annual 'Best Under A Billion' companies in 2008. Their revenue dipped in 2009 and the company did not make it on the list but as things look, I am pretty sure they will back on the list in 2010.

Dr Chiu Hong Keong, a Malaysian, aged 54 is the founder member of Pintaras Jaya Berhad and was appointed as the Managing Director of the Company since 23 November 1989 and elected as the Chairman of the Board on 18 October 1994. He is a member of the Risk Management Committee. He graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree (1st Class Honours) from the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 1977 and obtained his Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Engineering from Monash University, Australia in 1982. He worked as a Geotechnical Engineer with the Victorian Country Roads Board of Australia for a brief stint before returning to Malaysia to join Pilecon Engineering Bhd in 1982 as a Geotechnical Engineer. In 1983, he joined Ho Hup Construction Company Sdn Bhd from 1984 until 1989. He holds a total of 45,636,898 shares (direct and indirect) in Pintaras Jaya.

Name of Shareholders Shares
1 Pintaras Bina Sdn Bhd 29,016,158 36.24%
2 Chiu Hong Keong 11,407,860 14.25%
3 Khoo Yok Kee 5,212,880 6.51%
4 Khoo Keow Pin 5,041,652 6.30%
5 Alliancegroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd
(Pheim Asset Management Sdn Bhd for Employees Provident Fund) 3,000,000 3.75%
6 Chua Hock Chin 1,724,000 2.15%
7 HSBC Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd
(HSBC (M) Trustee Bhd for Singular Asia Flexible Fund) 1,063,600 1.33%



How do you value such a gem? RM1.17 of the share is in cash, which mean at RM1.60, the company is costing 43 sen only. Let's look at the net EPS again in 2010, its going to be 24 sen, less than 2x PER going forward? I am willing to ride this one for a long time because something is bound to happen very soon:
- the controlling shareholders should just take this company private, I mean you can literally put out a G.O. up to RM2.40 and still be way ahead with nearly RM100m in cash
- the company should be looking for acquisitions to expand its platform as it is being way too conservative, there should be no reason to keep more than 20% of your market cap in cash
- at current valuations, the owners would be very silly to even want to sell any shares, hence it is timely to try and improve liquidity and reward all shareholders, i.e. do a split and a 1-for-1 bonus, which the company can easily afford and should do

Well, the company has a lot going for it but the main owner couldn't really care about the share price. I do think the company will unlock some values but we will not know when as we have the same situation that the owner owns 56% of the company. What sets Pintaras apart from Kuchai was that it paid dividends of 9 sen and 6.4 sen in 2008 and 2009 respectively. At 1.60, that works out to be a dividend yield of 5.6% and 4%. At least investors will be happy to hold onto Pintaras while waiting for values to be unlocked.

The former is really a bad value trap but the latter is not.


NOTE: The above opinion is not an invitation to buy or sell. It serves as a blogging activity of my investing thoughts and ideas, this does not represent an investment advisory service as I charge no subscription or management fees (donations are welcomed though). The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument. The ideas expressed are solely the opinions of the author. Any action that you take as a result of information, analysis, or commentary on this site is ultimately your responsibility. Consult your investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

Asset Class Returns As At end-March 2010

Although it may not look as exciting, most asset classes performed well, but there is a certain hollowness. The exception being the revival of property and REITs in the US. Just looking at the 12 month performance and the stupendous 1 month performance, the bottoming out process is truly valid and sustainable.

You will also find that stocks in developed and emerging markets rose as well, but this was more on the bottoming of US property, the bottoming of unemployment there, for want of a better phrase, stocks just had to rise even though it may not want to.

In this circumstance, there are still shorts around, but they may be temporarily pulling back, and not pulling the trigger just yet as stocks just had to rise with the more vibrant employment, industrial production and property economic data.

The main exceptions were commodities overall, foreign government bonds in developed markets and investment-grade U.S. bonds. The fact that commodities in general failed to pick up alongside the better industrial production and unemployment figures showed that most producers and users are more willing to work down inventory levels rather than make optimistic future orders. This ties in with a a slow recovery globally rather than a more active one.

The Yen Black Swan Revisited

Now can possibly plan for my next trip to Tokyo come June.

WSJ: The Japanese yen, after a long period of strength against the dollar and the euro, is finally giving up ground, providing relief to Japanese exporters and a boost to Tokyo stocks.

Reuters

The dollar hit a three-month high against the yen Thursday at 93.73 yen, and is now in positive territory against the Japanese currency for the year, up 0.6%. The yen has now lost roughly 10% of its value against the dollar since reaching a 14-year high of 85 yen to the dollar last November. Even the beleaguered euro reached at its highest level against the yen since early February at 126.62 yen.

"Our view for quite some time is that the yen deserved to be weaker," said Paul Mackel, currency strategist at HSBC in London. Yen weakness has more room to run, he said. "It's been an abrupt move already, and I don't think the market is on it fully quite yet."

The yen's slide will be welcomed by Japanese politicians and exporters who prefer a weak yen to make Japanese goods more competitive on the world market. It also blunts the effect of deflation by making imported goods more expensive for Japanese buyers and reduces expectations for falling prices that make consumers less willing to spend.

The weaker yen sent Japanese stocks higher Thursday. The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies rose 1.4% to 11244.40, and has now rallied 6.6% for the year to an 18-month high.

In another bit of good news, the Bank of Japan's tankan survey showed that Japanese business sentiment improved for the fourth straight quarter in the three months to March, thanks to strong overseas demand for Japanese products. The tankan's headline business-sentiment index for large manufacturers, which measures the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are bad, recovered to minus 14 from minus 25 in the December survey.

The weakening yen could add to that sense of confidence among exporters. Japanese companies had been preparing for a prolonged period of yen strength this year and might now find a changed currency landscape. The tankan survey says companies are planning for a dollar level of 91 yen. It is now getting close to 94.

For every one-yen rise in the dollar above 90, Canon Inc., the Japanese maker of digital cameras and printers, says its operating profit will increase $91 million. Sony Corp. says its operating profit would increase $11.1 million.

Koji Endo, an analyst at Advanced Research Japan, estimates a rise or fall by one yen against the dollar either lifts or reduces Toyota Motor Corp.'s annual operating profit by 25 billion yen ($267 million). To put that in perspective, a 1.5 yen slide against the dollar is enough to erase Toyota's expected 20 billion yen operating loss for the fiscal year that ended on March 31.

A one yen move either boosts or slashes Honda's annual operating profit by 15 billion yen and Nissan's by 10 billion yen.

The yen's slide also helps Japan's exports to China, an increasingly important market for Japan. China has maintained a de facto peg against the dollar since July 2008, so a drop in the yen versus the dollar is also a drop against the Chinese renminbi. Counting the U.S., China and Hong Kong, which also maintains a peg to the U.S. dollar, nearly 40% of Japan's exports go to markets where the dollar's level is a critical factor in determining competitiveness.

The yen's direction has fooled investors before and some prominent analysts and commentators forsee a rebound in the currency. Japan still has a strong trade surplus, which creates demand for the yen. Former Ministry of Finance official Eisuke Sakakibara, said last week the dollar could to retreat to 85 yen at some point in the near future.

Interest-rate expectations in the U.S. are among the most important factors in determining the dollar-yen relationship, says Barclays economist Yuki Sakasai, in Tokyo. "The consensus is that U.S. yields are going higher. This is why dollar-yen went up so high recently," he said.

U.S. interest rates moving higher compared to Japanese rates attracts Japanese savers, including institutions such as insurers and pension funds, into U.S. bonds. As U.S. Treasury yields poke higher, as they started to last week, Japanese investors start converting yen to dollars.

The dollar rally against the yen has also coincided with the end of the Japanese fiscal year on March 31, a time when Japanese corporations stop their annual repatriation of foreign profits by converting them into yen, which had kept demand for the currency high. A new fiscal year is also a chance for Japanese investors to reset their strategies for sending capital abroad, and for Japanese companies to set hedging bets for the coming year.

Another factor is the so-called carry trade. When Japanese interest rates are considerably lower than in the rest of the developed world, investors borrow in yen to buy into currencies with higher interest rates. Now that U.S. rate expectations are going up, and the Japanese central bank continues to ease monetary conditions, investors are expected to use the yen again as a funding currency for the carry trade.

Brown Brothers Harriman analyst Marc Chandler figures if the dollar breaks above 94 yen, because of the way investors place currency bets, the greenback could more easily extend its run as high as 96 or 98 yen.

And the yen decline seems to be broader than just its relationship with the dollar. It is down against the euro, and the Canadian and Australian dollars.

"While the market was fixating with Greece and how bad it was for the euro, the real story is you are seeing yen weakness emerge against a broad range of currencies," said Mr. Mackel of HSBC.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

My #1 Black Swan In 2010

While the whole black swan thing sounds interesting, how are we to make a conscious effort to incorporate it into our analysis? Let's look again at Taleb's thesis:
... the existence and occurrence of high-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations. Taleb regards almost all major scientific discoveries, historical events, and artistic accomplishments as "black swans"—undirected and unpredicted. He gives the rise of the Internet, the personal computer, World War 1, and the September 11 2001 attacks as examples of Black Swan Events. To a large extent, the subprime crisis is another prime example of a Black Swan.

"What we call here a Black Swan (and capitalize it) is an event with the following three attributes. First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable. I stop and summarize the triplet: rarity, extreme impact, and retrospective (though not prospective) predictability. A small number of Black Swans explain almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives."

Taleb contends that banks and trading firms are very vulnerable to hazardous Black Swan Events and are exposed to losses beyond that predicted by their defective models.

So, what's my #1 Black Swan so far for 2010? I have a few, but I will share with you the one on the top of my list. Japanese yen may go in for a huge devaluation in 2010. During the risk aversion period, many people flocked to the yen currency. Seriously, for an economy still grappling with the excesses of the late 80s and early 90s, and going into a deflationary mode, you don't need a strong currency.

Why is this a black swan? Most people assume that Japan should not have a strong currency. Its zero interest rate policy has not been working but most will assume that it may go back from 90 to 100 at the most vis-a-vis the USD. The biggest catalyst has to be the mega government deficit that Japan has. Japan being Japan is doing tai-chi on that issue. The tons of fiscal stimulus pumping over the last few years have not budge the economy. The budget deficit is unsustainable.

S&P: The outlook on Japan was revised to negative on diminishing economic policy flexibility, and ratings were affirmed at AA/A-1+. At a forecasted 100% of GDP at fiscal year end March 31, 2010, Japan’s net general government debt burden is among the highest for rated sovereigns. The ratio of gross government financial debt to GDP is already around 170% on a general government basis (i.e. central and local government and social security funds) and is the highest by far among developed countries (OECD average was 75% in 2007). Moreover, the policies of the new Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government point to a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than previously expected. Combined with other social policies that are not likely to raise medium-term trend growth and with persistent deflationary pressures, Japan’s net general government debt-to-GDP ratio may peak at 115% of GDP over the next several years.

Many think that the yen carry trade is done by big hedge funds, but there are a substantial number of Japanese individuals who have borrowed in yen to invest overseas. A weaker yen will reverse that trend.

The key here is many think Japan's fiscal deterioration is a given but also note that Japan has a AA long term rating. A catalyst could come from a few rating agencies downgrading Japan, or Bank of Japan engineering (or allowing) the yen to fall. A major catalyst should be if/when they decide to make a landmark decision on how to tackle their outstanding debt. Its a time bomb because the yen's un-natural strength is largely due to the subprime mess but is dragging Japan into a recession if its allowed to continue. The shock could be exogenous (e.g., a rating agency putting a major AAA-rated country on negative watch) or endogenous (e.g., failure to match supply and demand on a major sovereign issuance). These fears actually emerged on several occasions in 2009, but were not amplified by massive sell-offs as occurred in 1994, despite far higher volatility this time around. The actual catalyst may not even have to come in a downgrade of Japan's ratings, it could be triggered by a major downgrade of another country's sovereign rating.

In 2009, downgrades and debt auction failures in countries like the UK, Greece, Ireland and Spain were reminders that advanced economies are not immune to being reprimanded for "poor fiscal fundamentals This year, the "pervasive negative big issues" should be: a weak economic recovery and an aging population, translating to a focus on the increase of the debt burden of many advanced economies, including the U.S., UK, Japan and several eurozone countries.

The weaker yen should happen because Japan does not have foreign currency debt, and the "devaluation" would not hinder their debt absolute value. Key implication of all estimates of Japan's debt is that without increasing the national tax burden (i.e., tax and social security costs)—which is relatively low compared to other major countries—it is impossible to sustain public finances. Unfortunately, raising taxes would curb already weak domestic demand.

Wafer-thin interest rates make it cheap to issue bonds, but the Japanese have decreasing incentive to invest in Japanese government bonds. If Japan must start selling more debt to the foreign market, interest rates may rise to attract any investors. If the market demands an interest rate of anything more than 3.5% then Japan will not have the [tax] revenue to service its debt. Even without a weak economy, Japan's debt numbers are set to get worse because of its aging population and underfunded public pension fund.

Not all black swans are negative events, and in this case, I think the yen can go back to 120 level, literally overnight. When that happens, we will have a chain reaction:
- Japanese stock markets will boom as exporters benefit immediately and companies can be a lot more competitive
- A sharp rise in FDI both short and long term into all types of Japanese assets
- Many Japanese exporters have come to terms with the strong yen over the last 10 years by expanding overseas. The net effect of this yen weakness will reverse the trend and cause more Japanese companies to reinvest in Japanese operations and manufacturing
- BOJ will start to raise interest rates, which will be a good thing really all around
- Exporters in same competitive categories in other countries could see a temporary sell down in their shares


p/s photos: Olivia Ong

The Forgotten La Salle Brothers

This was from the Centre For Policy Initiatives. The matter is close to my heart because my entire 13 years of education, from Kindie to Lower Six, was at SMI, Ipoh, during that period the late Brother Ultan Paul and Brother Vincent Corkery were marshaling the school.

Written by Koon Yew Yin
Wednesday, 31 March 2010 13:11


In all the talk about becoming a high-income country and belonging to the league of developed nations, Malaysians should realize that they are still painfully lacking in the attributes and values that make a nation truly developed. These missing attributes and values are not only the high ethical and moral norms that we incessantly talk about but seldom seem to practice, but also the common decencies of compassion and gratitude to those that are loyal or have sacrificed for us.

Absence of these common decencies is especially prevalent among various government agencies where unless the spotlight of public scrutiny is on them, the agencies basically give the bureaucratic run-around or even worse, play games based on a hidden agenda (including racial and religious) on those that have the misfortune to deal with them.

We hope that the publication of this piece arouses public indignation and leads to the rapid resolution of Brother Vincent Corkery’s plight.

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Brother Vincent Corkery, age 82, the former principal of St. Michael Institution, Ipoh, was admitted to Fatimah Hospital just before Christmas last year and was discharged after a three-week stay. He had a rare bacterial infection between the toes of his left foot. Before this problem could be cleared up, his right foot developed the same problem.

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Unable to afford the high hospital charges given his modest financial position, he decided to seek treatment in the Ipoh General Hospital. He was admitted on March 1 and was discharged a few days ago after a 27-day stay. Now he has go back daily for treatment as an outpatient.

I have been visiting him quite frequently and almost on all occasions I was the only visitor. It seems that the La Salle Brothers have been forgotten.

Brother Vincent Corkery, who comes from Ireland, has served in Malaysia since 1948 or a span of more than 60 years. Several years ago, he applied for Malaysian citizenship after having obtained the necessary pass in written and oral Malay, but his application was rejected without explanation.

His main contribution has been to St. Michael’s Institution in Ipoh where he served since 1958. In addition, he took an active interest in Malaysian education. In the 1960s, he was the state supervisor for oral English, and served in the early 1970s as secretary-general of the national conference of the Heads of Secondary Schools. For some years he was an active member of the Malaysian Historical Society.

As with other Brothers who taught in Malaysia, the financial remuneration provided to him has been barely adequate. His last drawn monthly salary as Principal was RM1,000, and when he retired in 1988, he did not qualify for a pension or for other retirement benefits. Since retirement, the La Sallian communal fund has provided him RM1,000 a month for his food and car maintenance.

In retirement, he heads a centre for programmes for student leadership and for staff groups at La Salle Centre in Ipoh, and serves as secretary for the Brothers Councils for Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The La Salle Brothers made their first appearance in Asia in 1852 when they founded St Xavier’s Institution in Penang. Since then a network of Lasallian schools has developed throughout the country. When the British left Malaya, the Lasallian Brothers stayed on to manage their schools.

During the Japanese army occupation of the country all the foreign brothers were imprisoned. My old teacher, Brother Lawrence Spitzig, a Canadian was imprisoned in Changi, Singapore. Brother Lawrence retired as principal of my alma mater, St. John Institution and died last year on August 18 in Assunta Hospital, Petaling Jaya at the age of 92 after long service to the nation.

These Catholic schools have continued to flourish even when the Brothers have greatly diminished in number. The foundations were well laid, and Lasallian education continues to be an important part of our education system even in these changing times.

Several of our important leaders of the nation, including our Prime Minister Abdul Najib Razak, Hishammuddin Hussein, the Sultan of Selangor, the Raja Muda of Perak Raja Nazrin and many others have had their education in my alma mater St. John Institution, Kuala Lumpur.

I am sure that if they are aware of the plight of Brother Vincent, they will act promptly to remedy it.

In terms of their service and loyalty to the country and the various communities, the Brothers hold a torch that is second to none.

Their dedication and commitment to the country was perhaps most evident during the Japanese Occupation period. Despite the warnings of many friends that they would be perceived as enemy aliens by the Japanese and of the dire consequences following, the Brothers opted to stay with the people. They paid a horrific price for this loyalty.

The consequences included incarceration in Changi prison where 15 Brothers were held; Taiping and Pudu jails where 12 were held; and at Bahau, in Negri Sembilan, where some 30 were held under primitive conditions in a mosquito-infested jungle settlement, surviving only on the food they managed to grow.

Once the Japanese surrendered, in spite of what they had endured, the Brothers returned to their posts and reopened their schools without delay. The fact that they had not run away but had chosen to stay with the people and share their pain, greatly enhanced their standing in the post-war years but this seems to count for little today.

I urge the authorities to do the right thing for Brother Vincent and for all other LaSallian and missionary educators who have sacrificed so much for our country. Provision of a gratuity and a pension, automatic approval of citizenship, appropriate medical and other civil service benefits – surely the country can afford this minimal humanitarian assistance.

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Comments

La Sallian |2010-03-31
Cheers, Cheers and let them display,
All you La Sallians join in the race,
Send a volley of cheers on high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky,
One, two the odds are great or small,
Dear old La Salle win over all,
While her loyal sons are marching,
Onwards to VICTORY!!!

pastor carey - www.pascarey.blogspot.com |2010-03-31
please start a fund for him; we will donate thru cpi
God Bless him


justin - not to late for justice I hope |2010-03-31
I join Mr Koon in calling for the Government to do the right thing for these dedicated Brothers who have sacrificed so much for Malaysia. There cannot be more than a small handful around so it will not cost much to see that they live the rest of their lives in some degree of comfort - in fact a pittance compared with the amounts being thrown around to less noble causes. Surely, the old boys associations of La Salle schools can take up their cause or are the activities of these associations simply confined to having annual dinner binges.

What a shame it is for us to treat our educators in this way.
My2cen |2010-03-31
I didn't know they're not even on govt pension despite serving these schools for so many decades. This is very shameful.

Do the community leaders from their respective churches know about this? Perhaps you should forward the whole list to the Catholic MPs/ADUNs for their onward action to (1) secure citizenship for those who have applied (2) secure a govt pension/fund for them for their decades long service to the Malaysian education (3) pension benefits including medical, dental and others.

They should at least be able to live in good care post retirement. We are not asking for luxuries enjoyed by UMNO ex-MP/ADUN!

If you can draft the list & petition, I'm sure every ex-student of St Michael, starting with Michelle Yeoh, will be happy to sign it.

BTW St Michael produced many drs among its alumni. I'm sure they'll be glad to help out if the story reaches them. (Sorry, left Ipoh when I was in Form 3, never attended St Michael, but heard they do keep an alumni list)
mengkungchng - La Salle |2010-03-31
Dear Bro Koon,

I concur with you that the contribution of the Las Salle brothers to the cause of Malaysian education has been invaluable and their role shouldn't be forgotten.

The key in keeping in touch with these great brothers is a strong and vibrant alumni. In this respect, I would like to applaud the Old Paulian Association for of Seremban for their active role in keeping in touch with their alma mater, former headmasters and teachers, staff and their fellow old boys and girls. Every year without fail, the OPA will host an ex-students' dinner without fail and this tradition has gone on for almost a hundred years. This is a must-attend dinner that every former student look forward to.At this dinner ex-headmasters and teachers will be honoured and friendship renewed. For milestone dinners the OPA even invited and hosted De Salle brothers from overseas, the whole of Malaysia and Singapore. Yes, we shower the with love and respect. Without these well-diggers we the present generation will have no water to drink, metaphorically speaking!

St Aidan - http:// |2010-03-31
Blame it on Mamak Mahathir. He hated anything British lah. The meek civil service followed suit. The late Tunku would have solved Brother Vincent's plight. My my my..they give citizenships plentiful for free to Indons and Pakis lah, the 90s immigrants.

Martin Jalleh - Bro Vincent is recovering well |2010-03-31
Dear Mr Koon
Thank you for your article expressing your great concern for the La Salle Brothers and in particular the “plight” of Bro Vincent Cockery.

Whilst I share the same concern with you, I am afraid what you have written is not entirely accurate and if not corrected, it may cause a lot of anxiety amongst those who know Bro Vincent well and may even result in an avalanche of visitors (which he does not need at the moment) or his e-mail box being “invaded”.

The actual reason for Bro Vincent moving from Fatimah Hospital to the Ipoh General Hospital was not due to the high and unaffordable costs. In fact the costs there were "managable" (as described by Bro Vincent)!

Bro Vincent was informed that the GH there had the best and latest equipment to treat his rare bacterial infection. This has proven to be true and he has described his treatment there as “exceptional” and the services of the staff there, from the doctors to the nurses, as “excellent” and “extraordinary”!

I have just called Bro Vincent, who has confirmed the above and he has asked me to reassure his friends and well-wishers that he is recovering speedily and his prayers are with them.
I wholeheartedly agree and support your call to the relevant authorities that the La Salle Brothers who have served as educators in this country be given a gratuity and a pension. It’s the least and most decent thing the government could do to acknowledge those who have sacrificed their entire lives for the education of the young in Malaysia!

In La Sallian solidarity,
Martin Jalleh
Odysseus - If only he was Indon |2010-03-31
Br Vincent would have had his citizenship approved if only he was an Indon, his bad luck being he was instead a dedicated educator who loves Malaya/Malaysia and its people.

chan kam nam - A towering non-Malaysian |2010-03-31
Bro Vincent and the many Christian Brothers and Sisters who answered the call of God to serve in Malaysia will NEVER get the recognition that they deserve. If they were of a different race or religion, perhaps.

That is the sad state of affairs in Malaysia. I read somewhere that an ex St John's teacher continued to teach until he was in his 80s. He went to the remote regions of Sabah to teach to the 'real' prubumi.

We should give recognition to all who have served our Nation, regardless of race or religion or even Nationality.

That will be the real 1Malaysia.

Dr Suresh Kumar |2010-03-31
If the country could not even take care of such wonderful human beings who have been around since pre-independence,then what is the point claiming malaysia is a caring nation?If the govt of the day could not even care for these distinguished individuals who had cared for it's own citizens for decades,might as well declare 1Malaysia is after all nothing but a mere slogan.This is the fire of racism and religious extremism engulfing our nation today.

I hope a donation drive for Bro.Vincent could be organized as soon as possible,so that we can chip in to assist him financially,the least we can do.This is the only way I can show my gratitude to these amazing individuals as an ex La Sallian. God Bless him.

justin - in defence of Yew Yin |2010-03-31
Martin Jalleh's note is unfair to Mr Koon in that it raises various issues that were not part of Mr Koon's concern eg Koon did not write at all about the quality of the GH service. MJs note therefore really does not correct any 'wrong' or 'inaccurate' impression given by Mr Koon.

The new thing he provides though is that Bro Vincent is well and conveys his good wishes to all. I find this response of Bro V as typical of the wonderful nature of this man - uncomplaining even when in great difficulties and always wanting to put on a brave front. When he uses words like "managable" we should try to put two and two together!

dev - My heart goes out to our great brothers |2010-03-31
I studied at the Lasalle Secondary School in Klang and I am very proud that I am a product of an era when the Brothers who were known as Brother Directors at that time were the principals who went beyond the call of their duty to ensure that we boys turned out to be good citizens when we left school. Discipline was discipline and no parent questioned the brothers or teachers of that era. Caning was the order of the day but it created a sense of honour in wanting to prove that we were worthy. It is a real pity that our country's education system has deteriorated to such lows that students of today can hardly speak English and are just unable to write a formal letter after 11 years of schooling. My heart goes out to Bro Vincent, we should never neglect our teachers who taught us and moulded us to what we are today.

Martin Jalleh - No inference made on Mr Koon |2010-04-01
Dear Justin
I did not at any time accuse or infer that Mr Koon had made a judgment of the quality of the GH service. In the process of explaining why Bro Vincent has chosen to go to the Ipoh GH instead of Fatimah Hospital I had explained:
1. It was not due to the “high cost” in Fatima (as Mr Koon had written: “Unable to afford the high hospital charges given his modest financial position, he decided to seek treatment in the Ipoh General Hospital.”)
2. I also took the opportunity to share and to reassure Bro Vincent’s friends that he was very happy with the equipment and the “excellent” treatment in the GH.
If my “clarification” has come out the way you have interpreted (though quite wrongly I must say) I sincerely apologise to Mr Koon and once again express my appreciation to him for highlighting the plight of the La Salle Brothers. - Martin Jalleh

alwin lim - re: |2010-04-01
Brother Lawrence Spitzig is truly a masterclass.

Those who are fortunate to cross his path will sure hava an eternal memory

francis ngu - Another LaSallian |2010-04-01
From Kuching, I share the LaSallian school rally with CPI readers:

St. Joseph’s School Rally, Kuching:

Sons of St. Joseph a voice is resounding,
Promptly respond to your duty’s sweet call;
Answer you all for the trumpet is sounding,
Your mater’s proclaiming her watchwords to all.
Forward her children dear,
Ever with hearts sincere,
Render with joy to your mater her due;
All that is vile reject,
Heaven will e’er protect,
Sons of St. Joseph’s valiant and true.
Prayer and labour your motto still bearing,
Forward with courage in ways that are just;
True to your standard be doing and daring,
As faithful Josephians in Heaven will trust.

Koon Yew Yin - Response to Martin Jalleh's remark above |2010-04-01
Dear Martin Jalleh

Thank you for your two notes.

Firstly, I am glad that you concur with my main point - that there is a need for the Government to acknowledge the debt that we owe to the LaSalle Brothers for their role in educating our young. Not only the Government but also the many tens of thousands who have received their education from this extraordinary generation of educators.

As to the other points in your note, I believe I am much more personally acquainted with Brother Vincent and with his situation than most other people. However, precisely for this reason, I do not think it appropriate to go into detail to respond to some of the points in your note.

The most important point I want to stress is that the Government should have paid him a proper salary and an adequate pension. Do you realise that he was paid less than any Government labourer with similar years of working experience?

I believe my article has created more awareness and as a result, I hope some good outcomes will happen.

Koon Yew Yin