Penang's economy growth declines to 1.8% in 9 months 2012

GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s economy slowed down in the first nine months of the year, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim.

“The state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of about 5.7% in 2008 has dropped to 1.8% from January to September this year.

“The poor GDP record has put Penang, which used to record one of the highest growth rates in the country, in seventh position behind places like Kuala Lumpur and and Johor,” he said.

Lim said Johor recorded a GDP growth of more than 6%, exceeding the national average of 5.3%, adding that 1.8% was below average and the Chief Minister (Lim Guan Eng) had to answer for this.

“By right, Penang should be doing very well as many people are flocking to the state which has a service-skilled workforce.

“I’m surprised that Penang has done so poorly,” he said at the Malaysian Economy and 2013 Budget Economic Forum at a hotel here Saturday .

Asked why the Penang economy recorded such a slow growth, Lim quipped, “Probably he (the Chief Minister) didn’t work hard enough!”

“Perhaps his methods and direction are wrong or that he didn’t do enough homework. Maybe he is too busy with other things.

“I’m not saying that he’s not doing his job, this is for the rakyat to decide,” he said.

Lim added the Ministry of Finance was forecasting the last quarter of the year to record a GDP of about 5.2%.

He assured Malaysians that the country’s economy was not headed towards bankruptcy as speculated by certain quarters.

“We have a RM456bil debt as of last year but our revenue is RM881bil, and we incur a deficit of about 58.2%.

“Our economy is doing much better compared to our Asean counterparts such as Singapore which has a deficit of 107%. Even countries like the United States and those in European Union are suffering from a higher debt.

“Malaysia practices an open economic policy and as of Oct 15, our foreign reserve has reached RM424bil, making us the 19th biggest foreign reserve country in the world,” he said.

The forum, organised by the MCA Bukit Gelugor division, was attended by some 300 people comprising Barisan Nasional division leaders, community leaders and businessmen.

Also present were Penang MCA deputy chairman Datuk Dr Loh Hock Hun, Bukit Gelugor MCA division chairman Datuk Koay Kar Huah and Komtar Barisan co-ordinator Loh Chye Teik. - The Star

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Good property management, maintenance add value

Stratified developments becoming a way of life

As stratified developments become a way a life, good maintenance and management have become an issue.

 

EARLIER this year, a new set of property managers replaced the previous one in the condominium that Siti lives. Not having a current account, she paid her quarterly management fees in cash. She was told that the receipt would be put in her postbox. It never came and she soon discovered that the property management company had absconded with the money.

As stratified developments which include condominiums, service apartments and gated and guarded projects become a way of life, good maintenance and management have become an issue.

Good management and maintenance will improve the value of the asset. This applies to all segments of the property market, be it residential, commercial or industrial.

Hence, the third reading of the Strata Management Bill 2012 on Monday is crucial, says Assoc-Prof Ting Kien Hwa, head of Centre for Real Estate Research at Universiti Teknologi Mara.

“Currently, property management is part of a service provided by valuers, who are regulated by the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents.

The work of valuers can be broadly divided into three areas property management, valuation work and real estate agency work.

This means that property management is a regulated profession and delinquents risk having their licence suspended.

For the last five to six years, managing stratified properties has become an issue, he says. As more of us live in gated and guarded developments, and high rise condominium and serviced apartments, property management is evolving to become a lucrative industry.

Ting says the Board of Valuers is in the process of creating a third register to accommodate property managers. Valuers and real estate agents are governed by two registers and the Board of Valuers are working on creating a third one for property managers.

Says Ting: “This is a similar situation as in the early 1980s when there were many illegal real estate agents. They were given a one-year period to register with the board.”

Ting says the duty and responsibilities of property managers go beyond just collecting money and managing a property. The word “managing” covers a whole gamut of expertise and responsibilities. These include insurance valuation, the appropriate rate of service charges to levy on owners, managing service providers like security guards and cleaners, gardeners and managing tenants and rental rates among other duties.

Depending on whether it is a residential or commercial property, some issues may overlap.

To claim that valuers want to monopolise the property management industry is incorrect, Ting says.

“Some parties say they want to liberalise' the profession. Just as engineers and architects are regulated by the Institute of Engineers and Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia respectively, so property managers are regulated by the Board of Valuers because property management is part of the work of valuers. This is the situation in the United States, Britain and Australia. Shall we then liberalise' the achitecture and engineering profession by allowing more people who are untrained to practise as architects and engineers because architects and engineers are monopolising' the industry?” Ting asks.

Ting says this argument to liberalise the profession and cut out the monopoly does not hold water at all.

He says there are currently 8,000 trained property managers in the country and every year, 450 more graduates enter the job market.

The local public universities provided courses in property management in the late 1960s because they knew there would be a need for this.

Malaysian Institute of Professional Property Managers president Ishak Ismail says: “The Government was visionary enough to foresee a time when stratified housing will become part of the Malaysian property landscape. The first condominium was Desa Kuda Lari in the KLCC area.

“Today about four million people live in stratified projects. About 80% of all the stratified projects are managed by joint management bodies and management committees. About 20% are outsourced and of this about 58% are managed by illegal property managers.”

Ishak said over and above the various issues that fall under property management, two sets of skills are needed the hard skills in managing the property and the soft skills in people management.

He says there is a need to put in the proper regulations to regulate property managers in order to improve the value of our property assets. There must be no conflict of interest because it involves public money, be it house owners or tenants of commercial properties, he says.

By THEAN LEE CHENG The Star

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08 Nov 2012

China courts friends in region; for others a show of strength

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) poses during the family photo at the 15th ASEAN-China summit meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, November 19, 2012. Also in the picture is Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen. REUTERS/ Samrang Pring

PHNOM PENH/BEIJING (Reuters) - When U.S. President Barack Obama and more than a dozen leaders arrived in Cambodia for a regional summit meeting this week, only one of them was feted with banners strung from the venue gates.

"Welcome Prime Minister Wen Jiabao!" one proclaimed. "Long live the People's Republic of China!" read another.

As the leaders left, the green-and-white banners were still festooned outside Phnom Penh's Peace Palace, a fitting reminder of China's powerful and growing clout as Beijing uses its influence - and money - to win friends and frustrate those uneasy about its sweeping territorial claims and rising military strength.

"Some states are easily swayed by money. If they see cash, they easily throw away their principles," said one Asian diplomat at the East Asia Summit, which included heads of state from 10 Southeast Asia countries and counterparts from the United States, China, Japan and other Asia-Pacific nations.

"China has been throwing its weight around and buying the loyalties of some Asian states."

A prime example is Cambodia, whose prime minister, Hun Sen, helped China to notch up a succession of diplomatic victories at the summit. China stalled debate on a resolution of maritime disputes in the South China Sea, rebutted attempts by Southeast Asian nations to start formal talks on the issue and avoided any rebuke from Obama over territorial ambitions. Commentators declared China a clear summit winner.

A closing statement by Hun Sen, this year's chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), made no mention of the South China Sea, another victory for China's attempts to prevent multilateral talks on the dispute.

China has poured investments and loans into Cambodia in recent years, becoming its biggest trade partner and bilateral creditor. Cambodia's debt to China now totals at least $4.7 billion, about a third of its economy.

The price of that largesse has become clear this year, say analysts, as Cambodia has used its powers as ASEAN chair to restrict debate over the vexed issue of China's maritime claims, dividing the group and infuriating U.S. ally the Philippines.

The 45-year-old ASEAN group has been built on a foundation of unanimity and unity, but that has unravelled as it struggles to cope with its biggest security challenge. In July, a meeting of the region's foreign ministers broke down in unprecedented acrimony and failed to agree a communique for the first time.

This week's ASEAN meetings again deteriorated into bad-tempered sniping and came close to a breakdown when Hun Sen adopted a draft statement saying there was a consensus not to "internationalise" the South China Sea dispute beyond ASEAN and China.

The Philippines, which sees its alliance with the United States as a crucial check on China's claims at a time when Washington is shifting its military focus back to Asia, made a formal protest to Cambodia and succeeded in having that clause removed from the final statement.

China then poked fun at Manila's assertion that there had been no consensus. Eight out of 10 leaders had agreed not to internationalise the dispute, meaning there was a consensus, said Qin Gang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.

"I suggest that people when attending the EAS (East Asia Summit) meetings have to be very good at mathematics," he said.

"That's 10 minus two, so which is bigger?"

NAVAL BUILDUP

Beijing claims a vast U-shaped line around the South China Sea that brushes up against the coasts of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia. The area is thought to hold vast, untapped reserves of oil and natural gas, and naval flashpoints between Chinese vessels and the Philippine and Vietnamese navy have become increasingly common.

Hopes for a diplomatic resolution within the ASEAN-China framework look bleak in the next two years as tiny Brunei and then Myanmar take up the chairmanship of the group.

Cambodia, like fellow "Mekong" countries Laos and Myanmar, has been rapidly pulled into China's economic orbit through rocketing trade and investment ties.

It has become customary for Chinese officials to arrive in Cambodia bearing "gifts", such as the $100 million investment that Wen announced on his arrival this week to build the emerging country's biggest cement plant. China has moved nimbly to set up free trade deals with Southeast Asia nations and has played a dominant role in financing and building big infrastructure projects in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

After the summit, Wen visited Thailand where he signed an understanding to buy rice, which should strongly lift Beijing's standing with a government that is a close ally of the United States. Bangkok has built up record stockpiles of 14 million tonnes of milled rice after a populist programme to pay farmers more for their crops made exports unprofitable.

If diplomatic efforts stall, China's options to back its claims with force if needed are steadily growing with a military budget that outstrips the combined spending of Southeast Asia.

As China ushered in a new generation of leaders this month, outgoing President Hu Jintao made a pointed reference to strengthening China's naval forces, protecting maritime interests, and the need to "win local war."

"We should make active planning for the use of military forces in peacetime, expand and intensify military preparedness, and enhance the capability to accomplish a wide range of military tasks, the most important of which is to win local war in an information age," Hu said.

Besides the South China Sea, China is embroiled in a dispute with Japan, also a close U.S. ally, over islands in the East China Sea.

China's stance is that it is not trying to become an offensive naval power, but wants to secure its energy imports and boost development of maritime natural resources, which are expected to represent 10 percent of its economy by 2015.

But it is also wary of being encircled as the United States refocuses its military clout on Asia in what Obama has called a "pivot" back to the region as wars in the Middle East wind down.

"It is absolutely (a buildup)," said Ruan Zongze, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies, the think-tank of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"No matter what kind of narrative you use, the reality is that America in the past three years has been putting greater emphasis or focus on the west Pacific. That raises a lot of questions for China."

China launched its first aircraft carrier in September, increasing its ability to project forces deeper into "blue-water" maritime territory. Bought from Ukraine ostensibly to use as a floating casino, the Chinese navy spent years refurbishing the carrier, which is undergoing sea trials. It also test-flew two types of stealth fighters this year, the second one last month - a smaller, more maneuverable model believed to be designed to be deployed on an aircraft carrier.

"China has ambitions to become the premier military power among its regional peers, and a serious threat to U.S. maritime primacy in the Asia Pacific," said Sam Roggeveen, an Asian defence analyst with the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

Roggeveen added that if China were to deploy more than one carrier and equip them with high-performance stealth fighters, "it would become the pre-eminent regional maritime power, with the ability to coerce neighbours in disputes in which the U.S. prefers not to get involved".

 By Stuart Grudgings and Terril Yue Jones
(Additional reporting by James Pomfret and Manuel Mogato in PHNOM PENH; Editing by Jason Szep and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Asean nations feud over South China Sea

ASEAN plans world’s largest trading bloc in Asia, the Regional Comprehensive Economy Partnership (RCEP) and the U.S. Secrecy in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

The leaders of Asean have succeeded in persuading their top trading partners to start negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to create the world’s largest trading bloc.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen formally launched the negotiations on the RCEP during the Asean Summit and Related Summits yesterday at a meeting at the Peace Palace in the western part of Phnom Penh.

The leaders of the 10-member regional grouping and their six major trading partners agreed to create a trading bloc that will comprise more than three billion people and with a combined GDP of US$15 trillion, roughly equal to that of the US.

Asean also launched the US-Asean Expanded Economic Engagement initiative, aimed at expanding trade and investment ties with the US and smoothing a path for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said that plans for the RCEP would be welcomed by world leaders from Australia, India and the US as an amazing tool of economic integration that might become the benchmark for other regions.

“The spirit is not that of a zero-sum game. The economic integration of other regions is complementary to the economic integration among [Asean] member countries,” Wirjawan told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the event.

“Many Asean member nations are conducting bilateral talks that are just fine, because they are complementary [to the RCEP],” Wirjawan said.

The minister has previously said that the RCEP would “rewrap” five current free trade agreements (FTAs) with Asean’s six major trading partners, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Asean’s FTA with Australia and New Zealand covers both nations.

Wirjawan said that the prospects for the RCEP were currently brighter than of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement touted by the US, as Asean already had FTAs in place, albeit mostly on goods and tariffs, with most of the nations involved.

The RCEP will expand upon existing FTAs to include agreements covering services and investment.

Asean is currently in discussions to expand its FTA with India, which it expects to complete in time for the Asean-India Commemorative Summit next month in India. Similar negotiations will follow with Japan.

Earlier in the day, there was a global dialogue between Asean leaders with the heads of world financial institutions, including Asia Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey, UN Conference on Trade and Development Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi and World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy.

Wirjawan said that the leaders agreed that Asean had shown itself to be resilient amid the global financial crisis, becoming a model for other economic zones.

“Also discussed were efforts to face financial crises, such as the Chiang Mai Initiative pool of funds, which has been increased from $120 million to $240 million,” Wirjawan said.

Another important decision that was made during meetings and summits in Cambodia between November 15 and 20 was to start additional talks on implementing the Asean Economic Community on Dec. 31, 2015, to aid member nations in their preparations.

Asean’s leaders also adopted the Asean Human Rights Declaration, despite critics who said that the document was not up to universal standards of human rights protection, promotion, monitoring and enjoyment.

At the end of the closing ceremony, Hun Sen presented the gavel to Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah to mark the handover of Asean’s rotating chair from Cambodia to Brunei starting on January 1.

Bolkiah said it would be the fourth time that Brunei would hold Asean’s chair, and that the nation had chosen a motto of “Our People, Our Future Together” for Asean for 2013.

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand also brought to an end to his term. He will be replaced by Vietnamese deputy foreign minister Le Luong Minh, who has been endorsed by Asean’s member nations.
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An alternative to US President Barack Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP) is the newest concept for an economic union between ASEAN and six major trading partners, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The RCEP is supposed to be a trading bloc that will comprise more than three billion people with a combined GDP of $20 trillion, or almost one-third of the global economy. Officials hope to have the talks concluded by the end of 2015.

Source: Investvine
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Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The First ASEAN summit was held in February 1976 in Bali.

The most recent 21st Summit was held from November 18-20, 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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Video: ASEAN agenda


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Video: Opening Ceremony of the 21st ASEAN Summit


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Trans-Pacific Partnership

On November 12, 2011, the Leaders of the nine Trans-Pacific Partnership countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States – announced the achievement of the broad outlines of an ambitious, 21st-century Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that will enhance trade and investment among the TPP partner countries, promote innovation, economic growth and development, and support the creation and retention of jobs.

INCREASING AMERICAN EXPORTS, SUPPORTING AMERICAN JOBS

President Obama announced in November 2009 the United States’ intention to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to conclude an ambitious, next-generation, Asia-Pacific trade agreement that reflects U.S. priorities and values. Through this agreement, we are seeking to boost U.S. economic growth and support the creation and retention of high-quality jobs at home by increasing American exports to a region that includes some of the world’s most robust economies and that represents more than 40 percent of global trade. The Obama Administration has been working in partnership with Congress and consulting closely with stakeholders around the country to ensure TPP addresses the issues that American businesses and workers are facing today, and may confront in the future.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Framework

The United States, along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam are working to craft a high-standard agreement that addresses new and emerging trade issues and 21st-century challenges. The agreement will include:

• Core issues traditionally included in trade agreements, including industrial goods, agriculture, and textiles as well as rules on intellectual property, technical barriers to trade, labor, and environment.

• Cross-cutting issues not previously in trade agreements, such as making the regulatory systems of TPP countries more compatible so U.S. companies can operate more seamlessly in TPP markets, and helping innovative, job-creating small- and medium-sized enterprises participate more actively in international trade.

• New emerging trade issues such as addressing trade and investment in innovative products and services, including digital technologies, and ensuring state-owned enterprises compete fairly with private companies and do not distort competition in ways that put U.S. companies and workers at a disadvantage.

Leading Asia-Pacific Regional Integration Initiative

The TPP is the most credible pathway to broader Asia-Pacific regional economic integration. After nine rounds of negotiations, the nine countries made solid progress and have now achieved the broad outlines of an agreement. During their meeting on the margins of the APEC meeting in Honolulu, the TPP Leaders agreed to seek to conclude the agreement as quickly as possible and instructed their negotiators to expedite their work. The nine countries also welcomed the interest expressed by other countries in joining the agreement and will begin bilateral processes with these interested countries to discuss their readiness and ambition to meet the standards and objectives of the TPP. Once these bilateral processes have concluded, all current Parties will decide on inclusion of new members by consensus.

American Competitiveness in the Asia-Pacific

The TPP is a key element of the Obama Administration strategy to make U.S. engagement in the Asia-Pacific region a top priority. The huge and growing markets of the Asia-Pacific already are key destinations for U.S. manufactured goods, agricultural products, and services suppliers. As a group, TPP countries are the fourth largest goods and services export market of the United States. U.S. goods exports to the broader Asia-Pacific totaled $775 billion in 2010, a 25.5 percent increase over 2009 and equal to 61 percent of total U.S. goods exports to the world. U.S. exports of agricultural products to the region totaled $83 billion in 2010 and accounted for 72 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports to the world. U.S. private services exports totaled $177 billion in 2009 (latest data available), 37 percent of total U.S. private services exports to the world. America’s small- and medium-sized enterprises alone exported $171 billion to the Asia-Pacific in 2009 (latest data available).

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Video: Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated in secret


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Video: Dennis Kucinich discusses the secrecy of the Trans Pacific Partnership
Dennis Kucinich (Democrat) is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 10th district
October 18, 2012 before the elction of the U.S. President took place on November 6, 2012


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Sources: Novan Iman Santosa The Jakarta Post

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Schools to create 'Asian leaders' in Asian Century

This picture taken on July 23, 2012 shows 53 students from 14 countries holding hoops with their fingers as part of a cooperation learning exercise at a class of the International School of Asia, Karuizawa (ISAK) at Japan's mountain resort town Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture, central Japan. -- PHOTO: AFP 

KARUIZAWA, Japan (AFP) - Asia may be driving growth in the world economy but a Japanese businesswoman behind an innovative new school believes the region is over-reliant on Western-style leadership.

Lin Kobayashi believes Asia is over-reliant on Western-style leadership (AFP/File, Shingo Ito)

Ms Lin Kobayashi hopes her foundation outside Tokyo will help change that by breeding a wave of political and business leaders - but with what she sees as a more "Asian" way of thinking.

Building work on the International School of Asia, Karuizawa (ISAK) began in September. The launch of classes, all taught in English, is planned for 2014 making it Japan's first international boarding high school.

Ms Kobayashi, 38, a former investment analyst at Morgan Stanley, said the school will bring together students from a wide range of cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, with scholarships for poor students funded by donations.

Lin Kobayashi hopes her foundation will help to breed a wave of political and business leaders (AFP/File, Shingo Ito)

But she said she wasn’t aiming to simply rival elite schools such as  Britain’s Harrow or Dulwich College, which have set up Western-style campuses  in places such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

And she added she wanted to change what she sees as an assumption in Asia  that it was preferable to seek out education systems in which Western-style  leadership was taught.

“Asia is already at the centre of the world’s economy, but is still relying  on Western-style leadership that thinks charisma is only to be found in a loud,  top-down approach,” said Kobayashi, formerly of the Japan Bank for  International Cooperation and also the UN Children’s Fund in Manila.

“I think we need Asia-oriented leaders who value consensus and harmony and  can combine that with deep background knowledge about the complicated history  and diverse cultures of Asia.”

— Regional history —

The foundation has so far collected 1.5 billion yen ($19 million) in  donations and private funding to cover initial costs, while inviting prominent  business figures to come on board as advisors.

In July it opened its third annual 10-day summer school, with 53 students  from 14 countries. The course cost 300,000 yen.

Kobayashi said the school will place particular emphasis on regional  history, a subject that divides a continent where narratives differ widely from  country to country and are at the root of various territorial stand-offs.

Tensions have recently flared between Japan and China in a row over  disputed islands in the East China Sea, with trade between the two countries  looking set to suffer. The relationship was worth well in excess of $300  billion last year.

“We don’t teach one-sided history. It is important to learn about diversity  of historical perspectives and the multi-ethnic structure of the region,”  Kobayashi said, adding that she wanted to bring in teachers from many different  backgrounds.

Lzaw Saw Nai, a 14-year-old student from Myanmar who joined this year’s  summer school, said he was “very much interested in leadership”.

“We have political and many other problems in my country,” he said. “I feel  I should do something, but first I need to learn. So, I came here.”

Tareq Habash, 13, from Palestine, said: “My country is in need of leaders  who can understand the need of the country and not just for what they want for  themselves.”

— “Free-thinking” —

Kobayashi said she hopes potential future leaders of Japan, a place where  politics is often criticised for its lack of talent, will also benefit.

“Japanese education does not do enough to train people to lead,” she said,  adding that this was something the country desperately needed in a region  increasingly dominated by a rising China.

In the wake of defeat in World War II, Tokyo fashioned an education system  that prized uniformity.

While observers say this was one of the things that helped drive the  miracle of recovery, they also argue that uniformity is now hampering progress,  amid calls for strong, free-thinking leaders who can drive the country forward.

Yoshiaki Nomura, an expert in leadership education at Osaka University,  said the idea of the new Asian school was timely.

“I think a curriculum that will foster a new elite is needed,” said Nomura.

"We have learnt a lot about classic theories of Western leadership, but I often  feel that what we need in Asia may be different.”

Jun Nakahara, associate professor of higher education at the University of  Tokyo, agreed that leadership is not always an innate quality but rather “something you have to learn about”.

But he said on-the-job experience may be more valuable than classroom-based  learning.

“They have to provide students with opportunities for practical experience  in which they can exercise their own leadership,” he said.

He added that the school could be a ground for future networking  opportunities but that it would “take some time” before it enjoyed the kind of  influence of its established rivals in the West.

Sources: AFP/NST/Asia News Network