Other Perspectives

A Story of Football Clubs, Jets, Islands and Petty Cash

So the latest news is that Thaksin Shinawatra will buy an island off Montenegro for 1 billion baht. It is in the Adriatic Sea, a sub-division of the Mediterranean Sea.

Hardly in the balmy tropics and it can get chilly in winter, but warm enough for many people as a summer destination.

Of course, this could all be a PR exercise to keep his name in the public consciousness - who knows?

But it does seem that freezing his 76 billion baht in Thailand has not crippled him. Nor apparently has the UK freezing $4 billion (140 billion baht) of his assets, though I take this juicy nugget with a pinch of salt, given that there have been no confirmations or denials and the Straits Times attribution of the story to The Nation. Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC reported that Malaysia will be stepping up policing of the Internet, using existing laws. Information Minister Rais Yatim explained that intensified enforcement, targeting websites as well as blogs, is necessary because sporadic enforcement thus far has been perceived as not being even-handed.

The Minister mentioned that existing laws are adequate if better enforced, citing defamation laws as an example. Read the rest of this entry »

When the opposition won the state elections in Perak, it was another milestone on the road to a full democracy in Malaysia.

Whilst the Barisan Nasional coalition still has control of the Federal government, the inroads made by the opposition in taking over several states is heartening for those who believe that a vigorous opposition is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.

Skulduggery

Alas, in the murky world of politics, that road is seldom smooth. Read the rest of this entry »

I believe it was the late James Goldsmith who said “If you can see the bandwagon, you are too late”.

Investors world-wide are determined to be the bandwagon, not see it, if the recent surge in stock markets is any indication.

April job losses in the US were only  539,000 which is supposedly good news (or at least grounds for optimism) and for many it seems, enough to warrant going into the markets. March after all recorded 699,000 job losses, so things must be getting better. Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday 4th May, 2009 Asian Markets surged, supposedly on indications that things are looking up for the Global economy.

On 5th May a securities researcher noted that buyers who invested on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in mid-March would have made a 50% return on their investments by now.

Well, I did not and this explains why I will never be rich. I have difficulty investing when I do not understand the situation, and obviously I read the wrong news. Read the rest of this entry »