Kuasa Pemuda

 

Saya ada terbaca kenyataan daripada Datuk Seri Dr. Khir Toyo dan Mukhriz Mahatir bahawa sekiranya mereka berjaya menang dalam pemilihan merebut jawatan Ketua Pemuda Malaysia mereka tidak mahu dilantik menjadi Menteri.Kenapa tak nak jadi Menteri? Oh, sebab nak kuatkan Pemuda, nak menang kembali 5 negeri yang hilang dan sebagainya. Orang yang tak menang lagi boleh la. Kalau boleh langit dan bulan juga akan diberi.

Pendapat saya mengenai hal ini adalah sebagai sayap UMNO yang memperjuangkan hak dan aspirasi golongan muda maka wajarlah kita mempunyai seorang menteri di kalangan PEMUDA. Ini merupakan salah satu saluran bagi memastikan suara PEMUDA dapat didengar dan dibawa keatas. Sekarang bukan zaman pergerakan NGO dan terpekik terlolong dan menjadi pendesak. Kalau tahun 70an dan 80an boleh la.

Saya lihat singkat betul permikiran kedua-dua calon ini. Adakah mereka akan berjaya membawa PEMUDA ke demensi baru dengan hanya berbekalkan keberanian?

Adakah kenyataan-kenyataan mereka ini merujuk kepada Hishamuddin? Atau Khir dan Mukhriz menyindir Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda Umno sekarang, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein yang menerima perlantikan menjadi Menteri, ketika menjadi Ketua Pemuda Umno menyebabkan Umno lemah?

 

Mukhriz pula tak sudah-sudah mengatakan bahawa PEMUDA harus bergerak secara NGO. Hai Mukhriz adakah itu merupakan cara anda yang mengatakan anda berani. Kalau berani setakat ke NGO saja baik tak payah. PEMUDA harus mempunyai bakal ketua yang bukan sekadar berani tetapi berilmu.

Memetik kata-kata Mukhriz ketika mengatakan dia tidak mahu menjadi Menteri kerana mahu menumpukan usaha memperkukuhkan Pemuda dalam menangani pelbagai isu termasuk mengembalikan sokongan rakyat kepada Umno.

Kalau bukan Menteri macam mana nak jadi pemimpin kepada rakyat. Jadi pemimpin kepada PEMUDA saja la.

Dr. Mohamad Khir pula mengatakan, Pemuda perlu lebih berani dalam apa juga perkara kerana itu sebenarnya yang akar umbi mahukan. “Saya rasakan kalau menerima jawatan dalam Kabinet, tugas sebagai Ketua Pemuda terhad kerana banyak halangan yang boleh menjejaskan pergerakan itu,”.

Masa jadi Menteri Besar Selangor dulu tak ada masa ke turun ke bawah? Halangan apa yang dimaksudkan? Panas? Hujan? Adakah itu halangannya? Jangan lah bagi alasan yang tak masuk akal.

Harapan saya janganlah kenyataan-kenyataan ini dijadikan modal bagi merebut hati para perwakilan atau dengan niat bagi melabel Khiry Jamaluddin sebagai seorang pemimpin yang dahagakan kuasa. Tugas PEMUDA sekarang ialah bagi MEMPERKASAKAN PEMUDA dan bukannya MELEMAHKANNYA. Janganlah hilangkan KUASA yang ada pada PEMUDA. 

PEMUDA ADALAH HARAPAN BANGSA

Kejatuhan Sistem Kewangan Sekular

 

Saya berpendapat kejatuhan sistem kewangan sekular adalah disebabkan strukturnya sendiri. Setelah sekian lama ia beroperasi tanpa berpandukan asas yang kukuh dan sebenar. Ianya juga mungkin disebabkan wang-wang USD yang dicetak bukan berdasarkan pegagang emas yang dipunyai tetapi hanya berdasarkan jaminan yang diberikan oleh Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat. Jaminan ini dilihat semakin hari semakin lemah dan gagal meyakinkan pelabur-pelabur asing.

Inilah masa yang amat sesuai bagi Kerajaan memajukan Sistem Kewangan Islam yang mampu menangani masalah ini. Malah Malaysia sebagai salah sebuah Negara yang mensasarkan supaya menjadi hub kepada sistem perbankan Islam di rantau ini. 

Bank-bank asing mula menghadapi masalah-masalah yang disebabkan struktur kewangan sekular yang penuh dengan tipu muslihat dan berat sebelah.  

 

 

Citigroup, Fed Said to Weigh Plan to Limit Losses

Bloomberg

Citigroup Inc. and U.S. regulators are in talks to limit the bank’s potential losses on more than $100 billion of toxic assets after the stock’s plunge last week sparked concerns about the company’s fate, four people familiar with the matter said.

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have been locked in discussions with Citigroup and other regulators throughout the weekend and a deal may be reached as soon as today, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. The plan under consideration calls for the assets to remain at Citigroup, with the government agreeing to assume losses beyond a specified amount, two of the people said.

The holdings that may be guaranteed are a portion of the $400 billion pile of mortgages, bonds, auto loans and corporate loans that Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit pledged in May to shed within three years, the two people said. While the amount to be covered under the plan is under discussion, the talks are focused on about $100 billion to $200 billion of the assets, they said.

“If anybody’s too big to fail from the financial system’s point of view, it’s Citi,” said Brian Barish, president of Cambiar Investments LLC in Denver, which manages about $6 billion and doesn’t own Citigroup stock. “The government doesn’t need to be in this to make money. If they lose a few bucks on this, but save the system, it’ll be worth it.”

 

Share Decline

Citigroup lost 60 percent of its market value last week as investor confidence in the New York-based company’s prospects faltered after four consecutive quarterly losses. Unless the bank takes steps to halt the slide, the share-decline may rattle Citigroup’s customers, counterparties and employees, threatening the operations of the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, according to a report by David Hendler, an analyst at CreditSights Inc. in New York. 

“We sense that Citi’s board will also recognize the difficult chain of events which can be brought about by its low stock price, and prefer to take action,” Hendler wrote in the report yesterday.

Federal Reserve Board spokeswoman Michelle Smith and Citigroup spokesman Michael Hanretta declined to comment today. Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden and Chief Risk Officer Brian Leach are leading the negotiations for the bank, one person familiar with the matter said.

 

‘Breathing Room’

The aid plan under consideration would give Citigroup “a little bit of breathing room, but long-term things may deteriorate” in areas of the company that wouldn’t be covered, said Peter Kovalski, a portfolio manager at Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC in Purchase, New York, which manages $8 billion including Citigroup stock. “The Achilles’ heel with Citi also is their exposure to emerging markets and what’s going to happen when emerging markets turn down, as they’re doing now.”

 Pandit, 51, told employees on a Nov. 21 conference call that he doesn’t plan to break up the company. He and Crittenden said they don’t expect to sell the Smith Barney brokerage unit, two people who listened to the call said at the time.

 Citigroup’s board, led by Chairman Win Bischoff and independent director Richard Parsons, met the same day to discuss the bank’s options.

 Citigroup issued a statement last week saying the company has “a very strong capital and liquidity position and a unique global franchise.”

 

Interventions

The proposal under consideration is a variation on a theme that has played out in government interventions during the past year, including JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s purchase of Bear Stearns Cos., Citigroup’s failed effort to buy Wachovia Corp. and the Swiss government’s rescue financing of UBS AG. In each case, the government required the bank to absorb initial losses and agreed to guarantee deficits beyond that amount.

 JPMorgan took the first $1.15 billion of losses on a $30 billion portfolio of Bear Stearns’s devalued assets, with the Fed agreeing to finance the rest.

 In September, Citigroup agreed to suffer the first $42 billion of losses on Wachovia’s loan porfolio, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. taking the rest, in a deal that was canceled after Wells Fargo & Co. stepped in to buy Wachovia.

 The Swiss government required UBS in October to inject 6 billion Swiss francs ($4.91 billion) into a special purpose vehicle backed with $54 billion of central bank loans to allow the bank to carve off about $60 billion of assets.

 To help shore up Citigroup, the FDIC could provide loan-loss support or the U.S. Treasury could contribute money from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed by Congress in October, Hendler’s report said.

 

Credit Ratings

“The FDIC does not comment on open and operating institutions,” Andrew Gray, a spokesman for the agency, said in an e-mailed statement today.

 Citigroup’s debt remains on review for downgrade by both Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. Moody’s rates Citigroup’s senior unsecured debt Aa3, while S&P has an AA- rating. A downgrade to A1 by Moody’s or to A+ by S&P is possible as the bank’s falling stock price could be deemed to hamper the company’s “financial flexibility,” the report said.

 A single-A rating at the parent-company level should be manageable as long as the company’s banking subsidiaries maintain double-A ratings, CreditSights said. JPMorgan, now the biggest U.S. bank by assets, managed to endure with single-A ratings earlier in the decade, the report notes.

 

Harga Minyak di Pasaran Dunia Jatuh Lagi

Harga minyak dipasaran dunia jatuh lagi, maka wajarkah pihak kerajaan menurunkan harga di pasaran tempatan? Mungkin ramai akan mengatakan bahawa ia wajar diturunkan lagi. Tetapi saya berpendapat minyak bukanlah segala-galanya dalam menentukan kos sara hidup masyarakat Malaysia. Harga barang masih tinggi jika hendak dibandingkan dengan 5 kali penurunan yang telah dilakukan oleh pihak kerajaan.

Keuntungan yang diperolehi wajar digunakan bagi pembangunan Negara atau melalui cara yang akan meningkatkan pendapatan rakyat yang berada dibawah.

Jangan besok ada yang mengeluh sekiranya harga minyak naik mendadak disebabkan harga ditentukan oleh pasaran. Saya juga berpendapat biarlah ada sedikit ruang bagi pihak kerajaan bagi memastikan harga minyak di pasaran tempatan stabil.

 

Crude Oil Tumbles to Lowest Since May 2005 as Recession Deepens

Bloomberg

Crude oil fell to the lowest since May 2005, trading almost $100 a barrel below its July peak as a deepening recession slows demand for autos and prompts factories to curb output.

Oil dropped for a fifth day, set for a 15 percent decline this week, after U.S. jobless claims jumped more than estimates and Singapore and Taiwan cut their growth forecasts. Toyota Motor Corp. this week reduced North American vehicle production, and Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Hino Motors Ltd. said they’ll make fewer trucks in Japan.

“It’s all driven by fear while the logic suggests a serious slowdown in demand caused by a worsening global economic outlook,” said Toby Hassall, analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia in Sydney. “The market is pricing in a serious slowdown.”

Crude oil for January delivery fell as much as $1.17, or 2.4 percent, to $48.25 a barrel, and traded at $48.97 at 11:55 a.m. Singapore time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures have dropped 67 percent since reaching a record $147.27 July 11.

Oil for December delivery dropped $4.68, or 8.7 percent, yesterday to expire at $49.42 a barrel.

Japan’s economy, the world’s second-largest, will probably shrink this year and next in the first back-to-back contractions since the banking crisis a decade ago, economists say.

Singapore, Asia’s biggest oil-trading center, lowered its growth forecast for a fourth time this year and said its economy may contract in 2009, and Taiwan’s government said yesterday the economy will slide into a recession this year.

 

Automakers, Energy Stocks

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-biggest carmaker said yesterday it is trimming production plans at U.S. factories by an additional 18,000 units. Honda has cut a total of 50,000 units from its U.S. plans since August.

Daihatsu Motor Co. said Nov. 18 it will cut output of engines in Japan, mostly for Toyota’s Hilux Surf SUV, by about 15,000 units to 562,000 for the year ending March.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Energy Index has declined 15 percent this week to 253.92 at 11:30 a.m. Singapore time as oil prices dropped. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil company, lost as much as 13 percent.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore explorer, slipped 5.6 percent to HK$4.90, and PetroChina Co., Asia’s biggest company by market value, fell 5.9 percent to HK$5.09.

“At this point for the oil futures market the only real obvious signals are coming from the equities market,” said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. “Equity market movements are a proxy for economic fundamentals.”

 

OPEC Meeting

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, due to meet on Nov. 29 in Cairo and again on Dec. 17 in Algeria, may lower output by a further 1 million barrels a day this year, extending production cuts agreed to last month, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts last week.

The International Energy Agency, an adviser to 28 nations, said last week that world oil demand will rise at its slowest pace for 23 years in 2008. It cut its 2009 estimate by 670,000 barrels a day to 86.5 million barrels a day, the biggest reduction in 12 years.

New York oil futures first traded above $50 on Sept. 28, 2004, in the middle of oil’s six-year rally toward this year’s records. Prices climbed on the strength of oil demand from emerging economies, led by China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer after the U.S.

Brent crude oil for January settlement fell as much as 68 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $47.40 a barrel, and traded at $48.07 at 11:53 a.m. Singapore time on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. Yesterday the contract fell $3.64, or 7 percent, to $48.08, the lowest settlement since May 20, 2005.

 

Investments Cut

The drop in oil prices may cut investment. As many as 44 projects being undertaken by companies including Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Petroleo Brasileiro SA have been delayed or faced spending reduction, according to a Nov. 18 report by Morgan Stanley & Co.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its forecast for the average price of New York-traded crude oil in 2009 to $80 a barrel from $86, adding that it was closing all its trading recommendations for oil.

A price average of $50 a barrel for most of next year is possible if economic and industrial activity in Asia fails to stabilize, the weekly report dated Nov. 19. The bank has cut its 2009 outlook 46 percent since September.

 

Minyak Turun 15 sen lagi

Harga minyak patrol turun lagi sebanyak 15 sen kepada RM2.00 seliter. Ini merupakan diantara langkah-langkah kerajaan bagi meringankan beban rakyat. Harga diesel juga turun kepada RM1.90 seliter. Saya amat berharap peniaga-peniaga juga dapat bekerjasama dengan pihak kerajaan. Ini merupakan penurunan ke 5 berturut-turut.

Kos sudah menurun maka wajarlah harga barang diturunkan juga.  

 

p/s: Apa cerita DSAI, apa modal dia nak pakai lagi lepas ni…

 Mengapa penurunan mendadak ini berlaku?

Oil drops more than 3 percent on global recession fears

Oil prices dropped more than 3 percent on Monday to the lowest level in nearly 22 months as Japan became the latest major economy to fall into recession, stoking concerns that global fuel demand will fall further.

Worries about the global economy mounted after Citigroup  said it would cut 52,000 jobs. A Philadelphia Federal Reserve survey showed the U.S. economy fell into recession last spring and forecast it would contract sharply this quarter.

U.S. crude settled down $2.09 at $54.95 a barrel, the lowest settlement since January 29, 2007 as slumping demand sent crude further below record highs over $147 a barrel struck in July.

London Brent crude fell $1.93 to settle at $52.31 a barrel.

“The stock market is easing off and that has caused crude to fall off too,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst for Alaron Trading in Chicago. “Earlier news about the Saudi supertanker hijacking caused a pop in prices, but now demand considerations are taking hold again.”

Somali pirates captured a fully laden Saudi supertanker far off East Africa, seizing the biggest vessel ever hijacked, with a cargo of oil worth more than $100 million.

Japan surprised markets with data showing the world’s second-biggest economy fell into its first recession in seven years as the financial crisis curbed demand for Japanese exports.

U.S. stocks slipped on the grim economic news, while debt prices reflected an aversion to risk.

“The dour outlook for the economy, which has affected the global capital markets, continues to be a pile-driving force on energy markets,” John Kilduff, senior vice president at MF Global, wrote in a note.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries became the latest industry group to cut its 2009 global demand forecast, adding to signs the producer group could cut production further to stem the price drop.

Since early September OPEC has agreed to remove around 2 million barrels per day from oil markets, and several OPEC members want more cuts. Iran is calling for another 1 million to 1.5 million bpd in output cuts.

OPEC has not yet called a full-blown policy meeting for the Cairo gathering of Arab oil ministers on November 29. OPEC’s next regularly scheduled meeting will take place in December.

Kuwait’s oil minister said OPEC could decide to cut supplies at the Cairo meeting but was more likely to wait until the December 17 meeting in Algeria.

“I think prices are on a fast track down,” Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad al-Olaim told Reuters.

“So ministers have to take that into consideration (in Cairo). More probably the decision to keep supplies unchanged, or to cut, will be taken in Algeria. The Cairo meeting will be a consultative meeting.”

A Reuters poll of analysts ahead of weekly U.S. government inventory data due out on Wednesday forecast a 900,000 barrel rise in crude inventories in the week to November 14. Distillate stocks were seen rising by 300,000 barrels and gasoline stocks by 900,000 barrels.

(Source: Reuters)

Bersama Akar-Umbi yang Sebenar

 

Sebut saja nama Khairy Jamaluddin maka terbayanglah keangkuhan dan kesombongan dimata mereka yang tidak mengenali beliau. Calon Ketua Pemuda Umno Malaysia ini sering dikatakan hanya menggunakan pegawai-pegawainya di Rembau bagi memantau kawasan Parlimen Rembau dan jarang sekali melawat kawasan. Dia dikatakan tidak akan turun melawat kawasan kampung atau sekolah yang jauh dipendalaman. Tomahan serta fitnah seperti beliau menggunakan “helicopter” bagi membuat tinjauan juga pernah kedengaran.

 

Beliau dikatakan kekok bila bersama orang bawahan dan rakyat biasa. Orang bangsawan mana boleh turun kebawah dan duduk semeja. Benarkah segala tuduhan ini? Mengapa semua ini berlaku? Adakah ini disebabkan tiada liputan media mengenai bantuan dan lawatan yang Khairy lakukan  maka timbulah cerita-cerita yang sedemikian terhadap beliau.

 

Seorang rakan yang berkerja di Pejabat Parlimen Rembau telah menghantar beberapa keping gambar Khairy semasa beliau membuat lawatan pagi tadi. Saya bertanyakan benarkah tuduhan-tuduhan mengenai YB muda kita ini. Beliau mengatakan bahawa YB telah banyak membuat lawatan mingguan ke Rembau dan tidak pernah sekalipun beliau datang mengguanakan “helicopter”. Hanya berkereta dalam kumpulan yang kecil bagi memastikan penduduk tidak berasa segan dengan beliau.

 

Nyata segala tuduhan itu merupakan cara dan strategi pihak lawan bagi mengatakan bahawa Khairy ini sombong dan bongkak serta tidak mesra bersama rakyat akar-umbi yang berada di bawah. Biarlah gambar-gambar ini memberikan jawapan yang sebenar.

Kadangkala, kita tidak perlu melaungkan dan mengatakan kita adalah pemimpin yang memahami akar-umbi kerana sesuatu perkara itu kadangkala tidak perlu diperkatakan. Lihat dengan hati anda pasti mengerti.

 

 

Hari Kecemerlangan Sekolah Kebangasaan Semerbok, Rembau

Hari Kecemerlangan ini diadakan adalah untuk memberikan hadiah kecemerlangan kepada murid-murid cemerlang di sekolah tersebut. Yang Dipertua PIBG mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih di atas kesudian KJ melapangkan masa untuk hadir ke sekolah tersebut. Beliau juga memaklumkan bahawa sekolah tersebut memerlukan perhatian yang sewajarnya kerana masalah kelas pembelajaran yang kurang sempurna dan bangunan sekolah yang ada mempunyai kemudahan yang kurang sempurna.

 

Kj dalam ucapannya memaklumkan bahawa aspek kecemerlangan pendidikan menjadi keutamaan beliau di Parlimen Rembau. Beliau juga berharap agar ibu bapa dapat memberi perhatian yang serius terhadap pelajaran anak-anak mereka. Peluang yang sama rata untuk pelajar-pelajar luar bandar juga dipertahankan bagi memastikan semua pelajar mempunyai peluang melanjutkan pelajaran ke tahap yang lebih tinggi, terutamanya pelajar kampung.

 

Bersama tenaga pengajar yang tidak pernah jemu menabur bakti.

Majlis tersebut dimeriahkan dengan persembahan pelajar dan penyampaian hadiah kepada pelajar cemerlang oleh KJ.