http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/ en Copyright 2010 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:07:12 +0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 1. Robb Report - the magazine for the rich and famous reported in its February 2010 edition the following under "Front Runners";

"A new MV Agusta that lives high off the hog... Since acquiring MV Agusta for more than US$100 million in 2008, Harley-Davidson has helped revitalise the 65-year-old Italian brand. The new 2010 MV Agusta (www.mvagustausa.com) which debuted in November...."

2. People might just remember that Proton sold its share of MV Agusta for one Euro (RM4) to some unknown Italian who subsequently sold a part of the company to Harley-Davidson for the sum stated above (more than 100 million US Dollars equal to at present exchange rate more than RM340 million Ringgit).

3. We may also remember that the remaining part of MV Agusta was sold to BMW for about the same price i.e. more than 340 million Ringgit.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/02/mv-agusta-again.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/02/mv-agusta-again.html Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:07:12 +0800 1. A commentator asked "if the Islamic Empire (there never was an Islamic empire in the sense of the other Empires - only an Islamic community - the Ummah) was so good in science before why are the Orgainisation of Islamic Conference countries lagging behind in science and technology?".

2. I had explained why before but i think I should repeat.

3. The early Muslims accepted the message of Allah in the Qur'an enjoining upon Muslims to read (Iqraq). The verse (the first to be received by the Prophet - an illiterate man) did not specify, much less limit what Muslims should read.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/02/science-and-islam.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/02/science-and-islam.html Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:56:36 +0800 1. It is now more than 10 years since the currency crisis struck Malaysia. Much has been written about the crisis and the controls imposed by the Malaysian Government to stop the devaluation of the Ringgit.

2. A few of the articles tried to defend the Malaysian Government's action but mostly the blame for the crisis was attributed to the alleged failure of the financial and economic management of Malaysia. Practically no one has implicated the currency traders for the devaluation and the crisis. Even the writers who are friendly towards the Malaysian Government refuse to blame the currency traders.

3. Many are the reasons put forward by the writers to explain the crisis. It is alleged that the stock market boom contributed to the loss of confidence in the Malaysian economy and the Ringgit. Some blame the failure to rationalise and consolidate the banking systems. Others suggested that too much money had been channeled to the property sector. The other causes identified were the total loan-to-GDP ratio had increased; the rapid expansion of credit leading to deteriorating loan quality. Then the blame was put on companies assuming that the economy would forever be on the growth path. The two-tier regulatory system on banking introduced by Bank Negara and the failure to use the interest rate as a policy tool were also cited. Contagion i.e. infection from the financial disease which had affected Thailand was regarded as a major cause.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-currency-crisis-past-and-p.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-currency-crisis-past-and-p.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:45:00 +0800 1. I am surprised when there are people who consider that I was not sensitive when I questioned the truth about Sept 11, 2001. That incident had nothing to do with the present debate on the use of the word Allah. As to not being sensitive to the feelings of those who lost their loved ones on Sept 11, I believe they should know the truth as to the culprit and not go on hating the Muslims for something they may not be responsible for.

2. This is not a case of Muslims making wild accusations against the Government of the United States of America. This accusation is being made by Americans, white Americans against their own Government. And they have reasons for making this accusation. So many fellow Americans died a horrible death when fire broke out in the upper floors of the two towers. They died in the fire or when they flung themselves down from the towers to escape a fiery death.

3. These Americans who investigated thoroughly the collapsing towers because they were suspicious of their Government's action were not deliberately or politically trying to blacken the US Administration. They were concerned and horrified at the enormity of the act i.e. killing fellow Americans in order to justify their subsequent War on Terror.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/911-and-reactions.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/911-and-reactions.html Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:03:23 +0800 1. I visited Makassar in Indonesia recently to give a talk on democracy. It is where the forebears of Tun Razak and Dato Seri Najib came from. You cannot blame them for once again feeling proud that a descendant of a Bugis as the people of the Celebes are known, is once again the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

2. I felt much welcomed there although torrents of rain pured down on the city for hours. The sun came out the morning I went to the Universitas Hasanuddin for the talk. It was a coincidence of course.

3. The reception was heart warming. There were 2,000 faculty members and students in the audience. The Governor of Southern Sulawesi opened the proceedings after the introduction by the Rector of the university.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/makassar.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/makassar.html Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:59:37 +0800 1. In my speech at the conference on the support for Palestine (Al Quds) on Jan 20, 2010, I said that if they can make the film Avatar, they can stage the attack and collapse of the World Trade Centre in New York.

2. The press report seems to suggest that there was no real destruction of the two towers but it was just some kind of theatrical trick. It is of course a fact that the two towers were destroyed after two aircrafts crashed into them.

3. A lot of people in America (the apologists will dismiss them as conspiracy theorists) questioned whether the towers collapsed because the planes crashed into them or that something else caused them to come down. These people have reproduced videos taken by media people showing the attack and the collapse of the towers, pointing out certain peculiar features. I have seen the three-hour long video which is widely distributed.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/september-11-2001.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/september-11-2001.html Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:05:56 +0800 1. Works Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor remarked that everyday 500 trucks carry sand from Johor to Singapore. A friend told me that it is not 500. It is 700. That's a lot of sand.

2. I thought we had stopped selling lorry loads of our land to Singapore. But my friend explained that the sand is not sand. It is silica sand.

3. Singapore needs it to make microchips. I don't know how much sand goes into those tiny microchips. Must be a lot if they need 700 truck loads of sand a day.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/sand-for-singapore.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/sand-for-singapore.html Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:16:33 +0800 1. One commenter on my blog does not think the hedge funds are doing anything wrong. That depends on what one considers to be wrong.

2. Hedge funds works on borrowed money. That is quite normal and acceptable. But they borrow anything up to thirty times the funds held by them. Ordinary investors cannot do this.

3. Investors therefore have to invest in hedge funds in order to take advantage of the borrowing capacity of the funds.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-hedge-funds-1.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-hedge-funds-1.html Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:54:32 +0800 1. The Perdana Global Peace Organiation's team of five which drove an ambulance and three trucks across Europe to Gaza returned yesterday. It was a truly Malaysian team with a Chinese Malaysian, an Indian Malaysian and three Malays. They went through some tough times, having to sleep in the open in cold winter weather, no facilities for washing or bathing, no toilets.

2. With them went a Bernama team of four made up of three girl reporters and a cameraman. They too went through harrowing experiences. The journey from United Kingdom to Gaza took a month. The convoy carrying food medicine and construction materials was made up of more than 200 vehicles with nationals from seventeen countries driving.

3. I cannot describe their journey adequately. Perhaps they should give talks where they would be more free to give a full account.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/gaza---pgpoviva-palestina-aid.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/gaza---pgpoviva-palestina-aid.html Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:45:14 +0800 1. The Government has announced that it will not set up a Royal Commission to investigate my losing 100 billion Ringgit of Government money and what happened to the RM270 billion received by the previous Government from Petronas.

2. Now I cannot clear my name nor can Abdullah clear his name. Barry Wain must be very happy. He can go on libelling everyone he likes and nothing will happen to him.

3. Yet when I repeated to the Press the judgement made by the court on Anwar's case I got sued by Anwar for 100 million Ringgit. It is now more than three years and the case is still not settled.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-royal-commission.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-royal-commission.html Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:01:59 +0800 I had written on Chinese Mathematics on January 1st. Many showed interest in wanting to contact Prefessor Xu Si Zhong. Here is his contact detail;

Beijing Xusizhong Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Education Science Co. Ltd Plaza Cheng Jian, 3rd Floor, Room No.B307 & 308 No.18 Beitaipingzhuang Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China

Tel: 0086.10.82255948

Email: xusizhong@xsz.net.cn or xusizhong@sina.com.cn

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/chinese-mathematics-2.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/chinese-mathematics-2.html Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:57:09 +0800 1. When the currencies of East Asia were being devalued in 1997-98 the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank offered to help with loans. However the offer was conditional.

2. The countries must open their economies to foreign capital including the buying up of their businesses by foreigners.

3. The effect of currency devaluation is to reduce the value of the countries' business in terms of foreign (US Dollar) currency. In addition the financial crisis would make the businesses less profitable or unprofitable so that their market value in local currency would be depressed.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/bail-outs-and-buy-outs.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/bail-outs-and-buy-outs.html Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:56:17 +0800 1. Ingin saya terangkan secara lebih terperinci pendapat saya berkenaan kegunaan kalimah "Allah" untuk agama yang bukan Islam.

2. Sebenarnya kontroversi ini bermula di waktu saya masih Perdana Menteri. Pendapat Kabinet pada masa itu ialah kegunaannya dalam kitab Injil adalah perkara yang sensitif. Perkara yang sensitif seperti ini tidak boleh diselesaikan dengan hanya merujuk kepada undang-undang.

3. Sebagai perbandingan agak mudah dirujukkan perkataan "kaum pendatang" kepada mahkamah, Tetapi ia adalah sesuatu yang sensitif yang tidak dapat diselesaikan oleh undang-undang.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/kontroversi-kegunaaan-kalimah.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/kontroversi-kegunaaan-kalimah.html Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:00:00 +0800 1. Adam Smith wrote about the above title a long time ago (1757). He talked about invisible hands which were instrumental in growing the wealth of nations.

2. In the latest financial crisis in the United States the invisible hands certainly played a big role. It took the form of abuses of the banking, monetary and financial system.

3. Pushed out of the international market place by the cheaper and better manufactured goods of the East Asian countries the West turned towards the financial system in order to enrich themselves. The opportunities for abuses were abundant.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-wealth-of-nations.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/the-wealth-of-nations.html Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:55:00 +0800 1. The Chinese understand numbers. Very early they invented the computer - not the electronic one - but the abacus.

2. The abacus in the hands of experts can outrun the electronic calculator.

3. The ability to calculate fast contributes much to the skills in business. The brain deduces problems much faster.

]]> http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/chinese-mathematics.html http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/01/chinese-mathematics.html Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:06:58 +0800