Malaysia

Perak prince has hit the nail on the head
ANALYSISBy AZMI SHAROM
COMING from Penang, I feel a little weird around royalty. We are just not used to them, you see. In fact, there is a family legend on my Mom’s side that illustrates this.
My great granddad was from Penang and he moved to Kedah to take up a teaching post. While working in his garden, a group of men came up on horseback. The ensuing conversation went something like this:
“Hello,” said my ancestor.
“Don’t you know who I am?” asked the lead horseman imperiously.
“Nope.”
“I am your Sultan!”
“Oops.”
Or something like that.
I must confess that great-grandpa’s temporary cluelessness has been passed down to me. So at functions with royalty, I stand when others stand, sit when they sit and generally try to be inconspicuous. I don’t pay much attention to their speeches either because the “beta’s” and “titah’s” confuse me.
Raja Nazrin of Perak’s speech two days ago at a Bar Council do was a bit different though. For one thing, he wasn’t using royal language. For another, he was speaking about a pressing issue in the country, in a manner that was, for a royal address, detailed and pointed.
The topic was about nation building and the first point he made was that at the core of the nation-building process was the need to have a citizenry that actually felt that they were a part of that nation.
I am glad the prince said this because it can’t be stressed enough that this is a major problem in Malaysia as more and more people are feeling disillusioned with the way they perceive themselves to be treated. There is a loss of a sense of belonging and an isolation of spirit that comes from being seen as the other.
It is one thing to have policies that favour one group over all others; it is another thing to make the other groups feel totally left out and uncared for.
When affirmative action becomes oppressive and when respect for one group is not matched with equal respect for another, what we will have is an atmosphere of cynicism and anger. This is not conducive to the well-being of the nation, be it economically, politically or socially.
His Highness (see, I’m learning the proper terms as I write) went on to say that in order to continue to grow as a united country, we must reject extremism and bigotry with dialogue and civil action. Tolerance and forward thinking ought to be the order of the day and inclusive participation as opposed to enforced solutions, the method of overcoming problems.
Underlying all this is a need for the total respect and protection of the Federal Constitution.
This call to look unto the Constitution as the guiding light this nation needs to adhere to is not new or revolutionary, but coming from Raja Nazrin, it takes on a certain resonance.
To the royalists out there, it is a call for the adherence to the law from a ruler. To me, it is an indication that things have reached a point where the direction this country is taking is a matter of concern of such importance that it affects not only the man on the street but also a man who could not be further away from it.
If now is not the time to make sure our country reaches for the ideals of fairness and justice, so that together we can grow as a nation, then I have no idea when is.

NST 12 Mar 2007

Anything from RM1.4 million to RM2.8 million12 Mar 2007

HOW much does one need for a life of comfort in retirement?

Financial planners differ on this, coming up with figures ranging between RM1.4 million and RM2.8 million.Certified financial planner S. Thechinamoorthy, of Monetmatters Corp Sdn Bhd, suggests RM1.4 million as the minimum sum a 35-year-old today should have accumulated at 55."This may seem big by today’s standards but people underestimate the effects of inflation over the next 25 years."RM1.4 million in 2026 is RM639,000 today," says Thechinamoorthy.Malaysian Association of Chartered Financial Consultants president Lim Yan Chang said there was no hard and fast rule about it."But I should say that RM1.5 million would be the sum an average Malaysian would need to live comfortably in retirement," he said.Citibank Berhad vice-president and head of investment business Danny Chang put it at nearly RM1.6 million."A person needs RM1,591,979 when he is 55 to last him the next 20 years," he said.U Chen Hock, HSBC Bank general manager for personal financial services, said a person needed RM2.06 million to achieve a comfortable lifestyle in retirement.He said the 35-year-old earning RM4,000 today would have RM500,000 in EPF savings by 55 but would still need to raise another RM1.6 million."The key for a retirement plan is to analyse when one wants to retire, the kind of lifestyle one wants and how many years are left to retirement," he said.Prudential marketing and communications director Paul Khoo felt that one would need RM2.8 million to receive RM4,000 monthly for 25 years after retirement. "The individual would have accumulated RM726,827 in his Employees’ Provident Fund account and assuming he has not withdrawn it for any reason, he has to accumulate RM2.1 million to meet his retirement goals."Great Vision Advisory Group tax and financial planning head Chua Tia Guan said it was difficult to compute the cost of a comfortable retirement as it depended on one’s desired lifestyle after 55."The first step to attaining your retirement needs is to plan the lifestyle you want at the end of the line, not what you currently have," he said.For instance, a lavish lifestyle before 55 may need to be reviewed to meet the realistic financial capacity after retirement.ABN-Amro vice-president and head of wealth management Michael Hui Hoong Tho concurred with Chua, saying that it was difficult to place a finger on an actual amount."But I can tell you that the amount required to retire comfortably is huge," he said. Hui, who often presents talks at multinational companies, said most people he met often said that he should have come earlier.EPF deputy chief executive officer Rusma Ibrahim said one should start saving for retirement on getting a job."According to our statistics from 2005, the average contributing member has only RM100,000 left in his EPF account at 54. "For many, the remainder could be their only source of retirement funds which evidently is not enough to last their post-retirement years and increasing medical costs." She said 99 per cent of members withdrew their entire savings at 55."There are few who leave money behind in their accounts although the number of those who do so is increasing."What’s interesting is that our recent survey showed that, with hindsight, most said that if they could turn back the clock, they would have made monthly withdrawals instead of taking it all out in one lump sum."

Sources say:

Statistics show it's stronger now and more resilient than ever.

KUALA LUMPUR: A decade after the Asian financial crisis, the economy is at its best shape, analysts have pronounced.Not only has Malaysia’s economy come out of crisis mode, statistics show that it is strong enough to face future shocks."Malaysia is now in better shape to withstand any mega surge in liquidity that could potentially destabilise the country," said OSK Research economist Sia Ket Ee.At its darkest period in 1998, the banking industry was bogged down in bad debt, the stock market benchmark index plunged to 262 points (the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed at 1,225.73 points yesterday) and there was a serious glut in the property market.The last few years, however, have shown a significant strengthening of economic fundamentals with the government’s move to improve competitiveness and its spending cuts to narrow the budget deficit. Agencies such as Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd, recapitalisation agency Dana- modal and the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee — set up during the crisis period to clean up a potentially huge financial mess — have today ceased operations with commendable measures of success, analysts say.Danaharta, for example, formed in 1998 to carve out bad loans from banks and maximise the recovery value of their non-performing loan (NPL) portfolios, closed shop at end-2005 with a final NPL recovery rate of 58 per cent — one of the top performers among similar agencies worldwide.Economists cite the pegging of the ringgit to the US dollar in late 1998 and its unpegging in July 2005 as a bold and unconventional step to handle the crisis. "This is one of the things Malaysia has done correctly," said Joseph Tan of Standard Chartered, a Singapore-based economist.However, there are still areas that Malaysia needs to address in order to compete effectively, given that other "victims", such as South Korea, have made significant headway since the crisis.An area of concern is the slow pace of annual economic growth from pre-crisis days."Macroeconomic stability is at a higher level in Malaysia today, but there’s also been a loss in growth," said Sanjay Mathur of UBS Warburg, another Singapore-based economist.Annual GDP growth hovers in the 5-6 per cent range compared with the pre-crisis average of 7.5 per cent."Private investment is seriously languishing and the country lacks skills," said Mathur.The Malaysian economy should also be more open and spend more on human capital — a key area which will determine growth these days.He noted that while Malaysia was a relatively wealthy economy compared with many Asian counterparts, it lagged in terms of human capital. There were too few postgraduates in science and technology.To rectify the human capital development flaws, the government is offering initiatives under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.Tan said the serious shortage of talent needs to be addressed. "Competition today is on a different scale. The war is about talent, not capital."Malaysia could produce top graduates, he said, but the government needs to consider ways to retain its talent. The reform pace was also too slow compared with regional competitors, such as Singapore and Hong Kong. "Benchmarked against itself, Malaysia has made lots of improvement. But compared with other countries, especially in the area of foreign investment, it needs to act more speedily," said Tan.Countries like Thailand, for example, one of the worst-affected economies in Asia during the financial crisis, was until its recent military coup, a darling of foreign investors.Malaysia also needs to improve its corporate and income taxation, and business processes and efficiency, he said.