J sent in the suggestion below. I thought it merited serious consideration.
___________________
I am writing in response to your call to boycott the local newspapers.
Since the end of last year, I have stopped subscribing to any local newspapers. However, even if everyone were to boycott the MSM, I believe that this would not be enough.
The point of a boycott is to punish the newspapers for spreading lies. The boycott would deprive them of profits and put a halt to the propagation of the newspapers. The further boycott by the advertisers would hurt them even more. Nevertheless, this is a corrupt government that we are dealing with who would stop at nothing to see their propaganda go through including diverting public funds to the newspapers to ensure publication continues.
Therefore, it is imperative that we call for a boycott of not only the newspapers and TV stations, but all BN owned businesses and companies. This would deplete their coffers faster. Without money, their efforts to smear and discredit the others, who are truly working towards a better Malaysia, cannot continue.
I urge you to consider what I have said here.
I am currently compiling a list of companies and businesses owned by these goons. Hopefully, soon I will have enough on my list to publish for the public to take action against them. Smaller companies will feel the effects sooner than the larger public listed companies.
Nevertheless, the effects will soon be felt by all if we persist and fight hard to bring down the liars.
The People's Parliament 
ycg
March 28, 2008
bye bye astro….i’m gonna miss u *sniff* *sniff*
ycg,
If we do it, we do it selectively, lah
Zanie
March 28, 2008
Boycotting the MSM is just the beginning but it’s not effective enough because apparently people still rely on them for current affairs. I think we should put more effort on making the campaign reachable to the kampung folks.Perhaps,opposition parties like PKR,PAS and DAP can make a join effort to harp this matter louder.
Awangngah
March 28, 2008
Don’t quite understand your argument J. If you believe that they could actually divert public funds to support their newspapers, then couldn’t they do likewise to support their failing businesses if we boycott them?
If they could really do this, don’t you think that we should just leave things be for now so that they won’t be desperate enough to use public funds (which could otherwise be used for the betterment of the general public) for their own survival?
If we gang up to destroy their ‘cash cows’, wouldn’t we then blame ourselves for playing a role in making them so desperate as to steal more from us?
I see what you are trying to do, and I fully support your call, but only if we could be certain that we wouldn’t be like the Japanese trying to wage a war against the Americans. We all know the consequential effect on the Japanese. Likewise, so long as they are in control of the Federal Government, waging a war in this manner might backfire on us.
If the rakyat wants to wipe them dry, wouldn’t you wanna wait till the BR is in control of the country? Then I believe our efforts will incapacitate them though that action will still probably backfire on us since a negative impact on their businesses (because of their sheer size) will have a domino effect on our banking sector and capital markets, and hence our fragile economy. Killing them will very most likely kill us too.
Just a thought.
malaysian
March 29, 2008
wow! very ambitious. but a great idea none the less..
i already have a few of these companies in mind. how do i get in touch with you?
ycg, no. we cant do it selectively. if everyone were to spare the company because they are dependent on the services provided then might as well not do it at all. what was it that the character sam from transformers said? “NO SACRIFICE, NO VICTORY!!”
by the way, when will this list be released?
Kopi_O
March 29, 2008
Yes, publish the list. I already know many developers are or we’re MCA linked. So, let’s kick their ass as we’ll.
The faster we get rid of these buggers, the sooner our better less corrupt Malaysia would be a reality.
Mohamad Fadhil
March 29, 2008
Saudara Haris,
I’m not one to be seen as putting a spanner in the works but I do have some reservations about J’s suggestion.
We need to remember that the main reason we want to boycott the MSM is that they are not reporting the truth. There is focus and a clear rationale for doing this. It is a direct punishment.
On the other hand, if we want to boycott (and convince others to do likewise) other BN-owned companies, then we have to understand the reason for doing so. If you have ten so-called BN-owned companies, then you may end end up trying to give ten different reasons to justify your call for boycott. Boycotting a company simply because it is owned by BN is not strong enough a reason, and if I may say so, quite unfair.
And you have to be careful in differentiating which companies are party-owned and which are owned by the government. I believe it is not necessary for me to elaborate on this point.
Secondly, for a boycott to be effective, there must be a viable alternative, preferably of equal or better standard. In the case of the MSM boycott, the alternative is news from online media or blogs. But for the BN-owned businesses, how do you go about identifying viable alternatives? As an example, I think it is very unlikely for most people to boycott PLUS highways by using the old roads. I do not think people would stop buying the cheaper Air Asia tickets just because the CEO spoke at ceramah for a BN candidate.
I still believe that focussing our energies in making the MSM boycott work to be the best strategy for the time being.
Fadhil,
Thank you for your valuable pointers
Discrimination69
March 29, 2008
Boycotting the MSM seems a good idea on the surface but it will not be effective. Many buy the newspapers for some foreign news and also mostly to read advertisements for cars, properties, jobs etc. Personally when I see any BN news I flip through quickly just like what all my friends did before the elections. Let the MSM roll slowly into their own graves they are digging, We saw BN accepting their own lies and blinded to voters’ true sentiments with their own spin, let them survive and continue their folly.
My suggestion is for BR to focus on educating the next generation of voters, those now in upper secondary who are internet savvy and also the rural folks. Flood the rural folks through schools with internet access and let them see, hear and decide for themselves.Keep the people educated and informed and they can think what is right and wrong, go back to basics.
Maybe Malaysiakini should have a free subscription fo school kids.
Undoing 50 years of wrong in every department of social and human development takes time, patience and concrete long term goals.Start your plans now or with no plans you plan to fail
RealGunners
March 29, 2008
knowing our beloved AAB&Co, I doubt boycotting GLCs will work.. what if they start making things tought for non GLCs in the related sectors so that only their cronies owned sh*ts monopolize the market..
Ahmad Navi Abdullah
March 29, 2008
I understand that some of the big guys who have been written to, are continueing to advertise in the MSM. Let’s boycott these guys to show that we are serious.
Watch out Tesco, Giant, Carrefour, Courts Mammoth ….
Satria Asia
March 29, 2008
Astro? Celcom? Telekom Malaysia? The highway concessionaires? The public transport system? Petronas? All the companies who are beneficiaries of ‘privatisation’ projects — water etc…Tenaga Nasional Berhad? Proton? Media Prima? (So with Astro, no more TV watching folks — and no internet too)
Seems like the ‘goons’ have got their fingers in every pie and the list will probably go on!
🙂
etthepig
March 29, 2008
Yes, we’ll boycott the BN companies but as ycg said, has to be selective.
Astro, we definitely can (has never before subscribe to it, was told that most are old programmes and lots and lots of repeats).
MSM (gave up on them, more than 2 years ago, before the call of the boycott, mostly craps are spewed out).
Unfortunately, being the sole supplier of water and electricity, they’ve privatised these and are so very profit orientated. This I can’t boycott eventhough the water supplied is dirty and we need to install water filters. Hmmm Are the water filter companies BN owned?
Liyin
March 29, 2008
Good job!
Hope to see the list of the companies soon.
Thanks!
malayamuda
March 29, 2008
people rely on them for current affairs ? I doubt it.
Current affairs all lies and propaganda, people go more for the obituary section, sports, adverts on property and products and probably world news , in that order !!
Malaysiakini should include an obituary and sports section too.
I have not bought the MSM for 2 weeks now . We can teach these BAS%$#DS a lesson or two
all4one
March 29, 2008
yes… starve the cancer…
Also, i believe this is in line with the government’s call to “change our lifestyle” due to the rising living cost.
Quite hard to stop astro though..
BTW, to add to the list, should stop supporting banks that are associated with those cronies too..
GermanMachine
March 29, 2008
I agree with the above commentators that boycotting itself would not be effective as people buy MSM for other purpose other that the usual spin. I wonder if there is any NGOs out there who can come out with a newspaper that is truly unbiased.
Boycott
March 29, 2008
Just say the word & I can help to create a database driven website for you (Free).
Boycott,
Go for it
mycuntree
March 29, 2008
I do support the idea of not giving support to these MSM.But as pointed out by Discrimination69, most of us buy the MSM for other non-local political news and not BN propaganda. I personally do not pay much attention to them, but for other information.Boycotting businesses that support the MSM would be much easier. Strongly suggest that somebody comes out with a more apolitical newspaper/s.
Until more people are IT savvy or alternative and convenient sources of information are available, it would be quite a challenge to make a boycott work.
Edward
March 29, 2008
It may not hit MSM that hard, the way we want it to, in a boycott. People seek MSM for other reasons. I don’t buy newspapers now but I still want foreign news, sports, and other news not related to local propaganda. Nevertheless we must persist boycoting MSM and hurt them anyway we can.
To hurt them we have intensify efforts.
We must create the Boycott Wave that will sweep most everyone off their feet. We need the bloggers doing their part. Others need to perform a “one on one” by influencing your friends and family to join the botcott. We also need to send out SMS.
I think we should focus of newspapers first otherwise we would dilute the boycott and it will not be effective. So my suggestion pick the target and focus all efforts in that direction. Other targets can come later.
mryoda
March 29, 2008
Hi haris
I think, to go along with this boycott, maybe u cud design / ask someone to design some damn good images (just like the above image) but with maybe 4-5 varieties. with a nice image that fit nicely to the sidebar column in blogs, i think a lot of bloggers will put them in their blog n linking them here (or the tshirt / petition)…
It’s time to go all out for this boycott, by any mean neccesary
Mob1900, are you reading this? More posters, thumbnails etc needed!
Shamsul
March 29, 2008
Okay I agree with boycotting newspaper. Beside taht we should also boycotting companies advertising in the newspaper. We inderectly tell those companies, if we see your adverts in the newspaper, your product or service will also be in our boycott list. The main source of income for newspaper is advertisement. We can kill Utusan, NST etc by taking this action
samarlin
March 29, 2008
Good move,though I feel we should take baby steps to make it effective.Lets take down the MSM down first,then go on to bigger ones after.Just like state today,federal tomorrow.
Richy
March 29, 2008
Just like many of you I too stopped buying Main stream papers since Feb,08. As far as TV channels are concerned I have stopped watching TV3 since 1998 after Anwar’s case. It is not because I love Anwar so much that I have stopped TV3 no, but because of its’ credibility and its’ personalities.
But the question is this. How do we know if we shut ourselves against all means of MSM? We would not know what is happening around and this may jeopardize our fair judgments on people and government. I think the best way will be to slam them when they make mistakes. One good example to show is the case of LKS when he asked DAP members to boycot the swearing in ceremony; within hours his blog was flooded with criticisms that made him to realise his mistakes. We have the power and we could do that.
Birdseye
March 29, 2008
To ‘J’ who sent in this suggestion.
People seem to be raring to go with your idea.
SV Singam said on another thread: “This is what I would like to see – a free and open parliament where parties and individuals are allowed to vote according to their conscience (whatever there is of it). No need to take extreme (if you ain’t with us you’re against us) positions.”
On this encouraging advice, I hope you will not take it negatively if I give my take on this issue and ask you to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.
On boycotting BN owned companies and businesses, you said: “This would deplete their coffers faster. Without money, their efforts to smear and discredit the others, who are truly working towards a better Malaysia, cannot continue.”
Well, the consequences could be even direr. Who knows, but some of the companies may be so weakened it may not fully recover from a successful boycott. So loss of jobs, turmoil in the families so affected but, I suppose, that is okay. Some people must necessarily suffer so that we can attain a better Malaysia. Perhaps, a monument may be built later to honor those who will suffer from the consequences of the boycott.
Even though the following quote is from a movie (Spider Man, 2002), I think it is apt: “With great power comes great responsibility”. Everyone is waiting for your list of targets, that powerful document. Well, I have no doubt you will take great care to make sure the companies and businesses on your list are in fact BN owned. I presume that The People’s Parliament will not rest on the laurels of hearsay.
That document in itself is priceless. If you take any annual report of a company listed on Bursa Malaysia, and zoom in on the Notes to the Accounts and go through the list of the top 20 holdings that must be disclosed pursuant to the Companies Act 1965 (as revised), it is impossible to pierce through the veil of nominees to determine who the beneficial owners are. That you can do this is what makes your information priceless.
Perhaps we should know how you define a company or business as ‘BN owned’. The BN as you know is not a legal entity by itself. It is just a simple coalition of political parties that, collectively, has screwed up this country in varying degree. Thus can you show proof that a certain BN component party does in fact hold shares in the business or company on your list, either directly or via nominee(s)? And how do you classify companies like Sime Darby and Maybank, just to name 2 out of many corporations that the government is considered to be in control by virtue of significant shareholdings by institutions like PNB, EPF, LTAT and other investment vehicles. Even the combined holdings by these agencies in a single company may not reach the 50% mark. These corporations are just too large and therefore too expensive to own in a really significant way. But the government has control by virtue of it being an impossible task to out vote these big boys in any general meeting. The combined shareholding of the true minority shareholders who attend AGM’s or EGM’s may not even come to 5% of the voting shares. Are these companies ‘BN owned’ in your scheme of things?
I suppose whether they are BN owned or not does not really matter. What is important is your belief that these companies have been using, or will be ordered to use, their coffers to smear and discredit others by using the MSM. So they appear in your list.
I would ask you whether you have ever worked in any of these so-called BN owned entities.
Let me give you my experience. I spent nearly 12 years in a senior capacity in a particular Malaysian multinational group. It was and still is a true multinational, built by the founders from scratch and thus not one of those ‘instant ‘ones that popped out of the NEP hat. In six of those years, I had direct control of an A&P budget of around RM10 million per annum at one of the subsidiaries. It was tight because it was meant to cover other things besides MSM or TV ads.
No one ever directed me where to put my advertising dollars. We had representatives on the board representing big brother (usually a retired top cop, high ranked general or senior civil servant receiving a healthy monthly stipend to attend the monthly meetings) and they never once asked me or my boss what I did with my budget. And I do not suppose we were treated differently from other GLC’s.
So, J, can you offer some proof about your claims of misuse of funds? Do this so at least the true, down-trodden minority shareholders can take the necessary action. I hope the Hartal MSM committee has someone who has had senior managerial or marketing experience who can comment on this as well.
There is this cyber world view that idiots and morons work in these BN owned/government linked companies and businesses who will throw advertising dollars at the MSM because they are ordered to. Please, there are professionals out there with a brain. And you know, when you have a good job and salary and nice perks, you want to preserve what you have by spending wisely so you get to keep these things as long as possible. For a marketing professional, this means keeping your sales up and market share intact. Any money you throw at the MSM is to reach your target audience and thus the premise that by the advertising in the MSM the company is directly propagating their lies is patently absurd.
ichtus
March 29, 2008
We need to stay focussed people. If its to teach Star a lesson, then I suggest we start by getting everyone to boycott it say, every Friday for a start. There are lots of adverts on Friday in to “get” the weekend shoppers. Hurt their friday circulation first. Then extend it to 2 or 3 days a week, by which time their circulation would have been reduced drastically. From the advertisers point of view, their cost of advertising will increase (cost per thousand) and their reach is decreasing. This will discourage them from advertising in the Star as the returns won’t be there. There is no need to boycott the advertisers as they will pull out themselves.
Secondly, BR parties must fight to remove the annual KDN permit thingy so as to free the media from unnecessary controls. Perhaps then, we will see the beginnings of a free and more balanced press. BR may also want to get into the media business then.:-)
10joules
March 29, 2008
You boycott the mainstream media because it publishes things that you don’t want to read, then you are no better than the ignorant BN government. Just think, the BN government disregard towards alternative media (media other than their own) eventually contributed to their poor showing in GE2008. So if you are gonna advocate the exact same treatment for mainstream media, what better are you from the purported oppressors that you seek to remove?
Wisdom comes from looking at both sides on an argument and making a judgement thereafter.
But having said that, we do not need to actually boycott the mainstream media to teach them a lesson. Just talk of a boycott is enough to make advertisers(the MSM companies’ main source to revenue) to think twice about advertising on a paper that might face a boycott. This should be something worth worrying about for the MSM.
zewt
March 29, 2008
dont think it will hurt them much but i guess it’s a good move.
SV Singam
March 29, 2008
10joules, there is a significant difference.
The boycott is not about closing our eyes to what is contained in the MSM. On the contrary, people are advised to read the very same MSM online if they wish to. But more importantly, they are asked to ensure that the MSM are not their sole source of information. Especially, people are asked to open their eyes to the lies and distortions in the MSM.
The purpose of the boycott is to impact the MSM circulation numbers which translate into advertising revenue. We are not so naive as to expect the MSM to respond on the basis of morals or ethics. So they have to be hit where it will hurt – the RM bottomline.
As has been suggested, the letters to the advertisers may also not have much impact. But then, people didn’t expect the Bersih, Hindraf and other marches to have that much effect. Sometimes these groundswells have a way of building up momentum.
Don’t be surprised by what finally happens.
Anduka
March 29, 2008
Dear sir,
J’s plan sounds wonderful. But those people already make their money and wealth. If the boycott becomes effective, what they will do is simple start a retrenchment and who will be the first to go? Some innocent guy/girl who’s trying to make a living.
My suggestion is J come up with another plan to hire all these people who by then are jobless.
Always think about people around you before making a decision. Else you’re just the same as the people you’re trying to topple.
Anak Malaysia
March 29, 2008
Have stopped purchase of MSM for some time now and depended on the Sun as well as BBC. CNN and AlJazeera on TV. Went on a drive to persuade my own network of friends to boycott the media during the buildup to PRU 12 and I was surprised that the ‘campaign reached no less than 7000 people. The call to boycott MSM will firstly hit them badly in the serious decrease of sales of their papers. However, more publicity (in addition to letters to big time advertisers) highlighting the fact that there is a concerted effort nationwide to boycott the media will definitely wake up the big boys of the fact that they are wasting their precious advertising budget on lame duck media. That will do the trick. What’s more, we should encourage these companies to advertise on all blog site- gets them into the homes of more reading public.
Ibrahim M Phee
March 29, 2008
Haris
Great idea. Better yet, what we should do also, is to prepare a templete that everyone who wants to participate in this boycott, can print out and drop into any businesses that advertise in MSMs.
I will try and get one done in a day or two.
Mike
March 29, 2008
I would gladly give up buying the msm. But the problem is, I get them from a friendly news
agent which is his sole business. It would be like depriving him of his livelyhood.
Pete
March 29, 2008
I want to pen my undivided support to boycott all mainstream media run by umNO for spreading so many lies. When I look at our media, it is as if we’re living in a totalitarian country.
I think we should first educate the average Malaysian about the lies that umNO media is spreading. We need examples in the form of videos to educate our fellow Malaysians. So please people who are good at this area should come up with some youtube videos.
Then we can download them and have VCDs / DVDs made so that the people who do not have Internet access can watch them.
I think we must work on educating the public. I see many people are reading / watching the umNO media because they are not aware the lies that these media companies are feeding them day in and day out.
We need a website where people can pledge their support and state what they have stopped subscribing to e.g. the Satan (Star), Berita Haram, Utusan Meloya, New Shit Times and other companies like Max(i)sHIT etc.
I for one have stopped pound my Max(i)sHIT sim card to powder.
Meanwhile, the alternative media (e.g Malaysiakini) must step in to fill this vacuum… by providing a full fledge online newspaper with sports news etc.
Let’s do our part. Another tsumani guys!!!
SV Singam
March 29, 2008
Prior to the elections, I worked on a 3 short videos (http://tinyurl.com/yqtra2) which, together with a few that I downloaded (from u-tube, Malaysiakini etc), I burned into CDs for distribution to reach those people not accessing the Internet. If the content is simple, then not so hard to do.
If I can get help with content (text, images) I can put the videos together. Nothing fancy – image/word sequences designed to get maximum impact. If appropriate video clips are available, can include also.
Let’s go for it.
xc
March 29, 2008
Hello, tak pernah baca Sun Tzu ka? No need to chop all heads. Select the weakest head and chop. All other heads will tremble in fear and fall in line. So any suggestions which Head (i.e. company ) to chop?
come on, be creative………
raymond
March 29, 2008
i guess every1 is wrong!
we can boycott Maybank,choosing a foreign bank,boycott TNB,using candles or generator,boycott Petronas and buy only Shell,boycott Proton buy more expensive imported CKD cars,but if we boycott TM,myself no need to subscribe to Streamyx,is the rivals efficient?my question is,no matter how efficient are these rivals,they still need to rent fixed-lines from TM,so,better wait till the new Govt. is formed,freeze the TM monopoly on fixed-lines,then sounds more relevant,right?
raymond
March 29, 2008
many ppl still dont believe mobile-phone operators also lease fixed-lines from TM,my dear frends,no need to argue,it is very true!
And the other scenario is,if you decided to boycott GLCs,maybe you yourself or your relatives are now employed under these companies or their subsidiaries!So,i guess,tentatively,let’s boycott the MSM!
berubahuntukmalaysia
March 29, 2008
Not easy. How on earth you want most people to unsubscribe ASTRO? Most people using Maxis, how can you convince most of the people to jump to Digi?
I hope it works but it wont be easy! 🙂 Berubah is the WORD!
citizen4u
March 29, 2008
I have already stopped subscribing to the MSM. I can get all the news local and foreign from the electronic media.
The only thing I miss is the obituary column where news of the demise of friends and relatives are found. News of the same might reach us a bit later. A bit late can sometimes be too late!
Nevertheless the momentum of the boycott must be maintained. Otherwise it won’t be effective.
dogeatery
March 29, 2008
We don’t need to boycott them, they are already dying:
http://ichweissenicht.wordpress.com
http://dogeatery2.wordpress.com
shar101
March 29, 2008
Well done, Birdseye.
Corporate finance is definitely something up your alley.
Sifting through the layers of nominees itself is a daunting task to ferret out the BN (and crony) interests. If it was that simple, the opposition political parties would have been able to highlight these transgressions and ‘went to town’ with the evidence.
On the other hand, ‘J’ may have actually done his/her homework and compiled this ‘priceless’ database. The key factor I’d be looking for – diverting public funds to the newspapers to ensure publication continues. Usually, companies have their ‘adex’ (advertising expenditure) accounted into their yearly budget. ‘Diverting’ would mean it is an extraneous cost. Can this be proven beyond reasonable doubt?
A more effective approach for such cases would be minority shareholder activism but that’s another story altogether.
Abbath
March 30, 2008
Aku tak setuju benda nih.
Kalau boikot media benda nih akan berlaku.
1. Harga surat khabar jadi mahal. <– nanti gov subsidy syarikat ni dapat duit subsidi. Duit siapa…. Duit kita yang bayar income tax.
2. Company downsizing <– adik beradik, anak, sedara yang kerja kat syarikat nih kena buang kerja. Terpaksala korang kena bagi kerja kat diorang. Tak bleh la tengok awek cun baca berita TV 3 suku
3. Setengah yang dibuang mungkin akan berhijrah ke negara lain <– Brain drain
4. Harga Iklan makin murah <– iklan sms bertambah lah banyak kat TV and paper. Anak kita pun tertarik la dengan ikan tuh. Duit sapa habis…. Duit kita jugak bayar bil telefon.
Tapi kalau kita ban semua MSM penuh la stadium. Sebab half of malaysian population tak tengok EPL terpaksa la tengok Liga Malaysia. Bertambah kaya la KJ…..
Naksam
March 30, 2008
Well the key word, to my mind, is ‘alternative’. We need to create alternative media for the rakyat to get their information from and for the companies to advertise their products. Without the ‘alternative/s’ it will be difficult for our boycott strategy to be effective. It can be misconstrued as ‘blackmail’.
What we need now is to persuade somebody with an ‘independent’ background and the means to start a print media first. I am sure there are few independent veteran editors who are able to lead the young journalists. Once we have establish this alternative/s then we can tell the advertisers that they now have a choice.
yh
March 30, 2008
ho, ho, ho. my Bro-in-law has decided to join the boycott. No more daily delivery of Star to the house. only sin chew for the old folks.
wong, jocelyn, chin..still wanna write more spins?
delima
March 30, 2008
I think boycotting GLCs is a good idea but it has to be selectively. When muslims are asked to boycott American companies, we do not boycott all American companies. Only those which support the Jews, those which fund their causes. In fact, there are still many European companies who are affected too. By the same reasoning, we should target one company at a time. If like RPK says, Ananda Krishna actually funded millions of ringgit during the PRU12, them Maxis should be the 1st to go. When we change to Celcom, true we are actually giving the same BN government our money, but at the same time we are sending a message to Ananda that he will go down with the government. If everyone focus on this, the message will get through. We may not even have to boycott the others, if we can destroy one, everyone else will toe the line. Remember when the muslims of southern Thailand boycotted drinking Coke, the factory eventually closed down. So all we have to do is choose one, and put all our concerted effort into it. If it works, then they will know about people’s power. If they still sleep, then we choose another one. One by one, not many at the same time. It’s easier and much more effective. Let’s work together on this. I can’t wait to start. Choose one company and let us know. We have to be one and united. Show them who the boss is. Power to the people.
SV Singam
March 30, 2008
Naksam, the problem is not in finding people willing and able to provide an alternate medium. The problem is in such a medium being allowed to disseminate the truth freely without harassment.
When it began, the Star shone quite brightly. I don’t know about editorial quality and all that but you could read stuff there about what was really going on. That is how they beat the crap out of the NST in circulation numbers. But Operation Lallang changed all that.
Now, it’s no longer just a question of content restriction but a fact of owner agenda. The Star is owned by the MCA. The NST is owned by UMNO. And now the SUN is owned by Berjaya, an UMNO crony. So even if restrictions were removed, these papers would still show a bias. Ditto for the TV stations.
If the BR government were to come into Federal power and relax restrictions on publications, we can expect much of the same from these old media. But online publications like MalaysiaKini would be free to publish a print version, and that would reach all those people who need to hold the tabloid in their hands.
However, as it currently stands, these online media lack some of the extra features found in the MSM. They’d have to hire people to contribute that component before they can compete for mind-share of the general population.
When faced with competition, the MSM will be forced to address the expectations of the people. If allowed to mature, our media may even reach the stage of pursuing investigative journalism, rather than simply reporting what-happened-where or quoting who-said-what.
I look forward to that day.
Birdseye
March 30, 2008
Shar101,
Things have improved a lot over the past few years. The Bursa Malaysia website is not a dinosaur anymore. Actually, it’s pretty impressive and there is a wealth of information. Operationally, in their day to day management of the market, I still see problems. Responses by listed companies to their official queries are still allowed to be as bland as ever, to the point of being meaningless. They are hardly challenged. And the Securities Commission (SC) is not much help either.
Take the case of Talam Corporation Berhad, a property developer. Closed on Friday at 22.5 sen (up 3.0 sen!). Why am I shining the headlight on Talam? I do not have shares in the company, but it will do me a world of good if the company will simply survive over the next 12 months. After that it can go to hell. Nothing I’m about to say here is speculative or defamatory because my information can be verified at Talam’s website and the Bursa’s archives.
Talam is an ‘Amended PN17’ company. In essence, a company in deep shit and is required to submit to the SC a ‘Regularization Plan’ to get out of the mess or face delisting of its shares.
On 25th September, 2007, the SC rejected Talam’s proposed regularization plan and gave 5 reasons why it said no. No issue here because all reasons listed were fair. On 28th September, Bursa Malaysia dutifully announced that the shares of Talam will be suspended from trading wef 4th October until further notice. The price plummeted of course.
Talam successfully appealed against the suspension and was granted permission to submit a revised plan. Still no issue. Thus far it has been typical sandiwara.
I wrote 3 times to the Bursa to enquire whether Talam will be required to disclose details of the new plan. No official reply whatsoever. I then spoke to someone at Bursa who told me no one has ever asked such a question. Why would I want to know that? It’s confidential until the ruling is revealed, blah2. So I countered that, surely, people who are still holding on to the Talam shares should have the ability to decide for themselves whether they should bid farewell to the shares now in the open market. How can they exercise this judgment if they do not have the information to help them decide? After all, you, Bursa, gave 5 solid reasons to reject the first plan. Investors will surely like to know how the company thinks it can get out of the deep pooh they are in. If they wait for Bursa to decide and the new plan is rejected, a packet of peanuts will fetch more than the shares. There was a click at the other end.
On 3rd March, 2008, Talam announced this (6 months later): “Talam wishes to announce that the Proposed Revised Regularization Plan which was submitted to the Securities Commission (“SC”) on 25 October 2007 is currently pending the decision of the SC.”
Cheers, bro.
PS: I’ll discuss the ‘J’ matter later. Sorry to waste your time on Talam.
Birdseye
March 30, 2008
Shar101,
Episode II – The J List
You asked: “The key factor I’d be looking for – diverting public funds to the newspapers to ensure publication continues. Usually, companies have their ‘adex’ (advertising expenditure) accounted into their yearly budget. ‘Diverting’ would mean it is an extraneous cost. Can this be proven beyond reasonable doubt?”
The only way to proof anything is that you be allowed unrestricted access to the accounts. There is no way unless you’re the auditor and you know what to look for.
I must admit I’m not sure what J means by ‘public funds’, as you too have used too. For me, the use of the term ‘public funds’ in the context of J’s proposal only has meaning if the public at large can claim an interest through, say, EPF’s or whatever Yayasan’s interest in the shares of the entity. Otherwise, I do not see how the public has a vested interest in the affairs of the entity. I suppose, to justify our action, we can still be a busy body on the sleepy shareholders behalf – in any entity.
This is why I’m interested to see how J defines a ‘BN-owned entity’ or GLC. All will be revealed soon enough! I think it is only right we do not have cases of mistaken identity.
Yeah, most companies will operate with an annual budget that covers everything. Some companies even have 3-5 year plans, which I hated, because Year 2 onwards is frankly an abuse of the calculators and PCs. It’s basically extrapolation of the first year’s numbers based on market forecasts that somehow never predicts a downturn! It never does because then you will have to say how you intend to tackle the situation and achieve uninterrupted growth! Which manager wants this shit? These forward projections quickly become meaningless if the first year’s numbers begin to veer off target. And all that number crunching through the night. Damn!
In a typical company, monthly management meetings will be held to review performance of the business, comparing actual expenditure against budget to see if there had been any significant over or under spending.
‘Diverting’, to me, simply means using funds intended for one purpose for another. A cursory review of the cold numbers is unlikely to reveal hanky-panky because spending is still in check. Diverting can also mean simply using surplus funds the company has and increase adex just for the sake of ensuring the newspaper will survive. It blows the budget sky high but so what? Management can say they have under estimated the need for adex in the forecast. Or they could hide the expenditure under another description and hope it will not be detected by the internal or external auditors. Again, so what? Management will say “Oops, sorry, booking error. We’ll correct it. The higher expenditure is because the general sales manager screwed up big time in his adex plan”
So you see it is a matter of what we think about the people who run the companies. If one thinks these companies are run by bozos with no professional pride and zero integrity and spineless and will do what the government wants, then, for sure J’s claim is very possible.
To help you decide, how many of the GLC’s you think will last as long as they have if the people who run these corporations are like that? They will have been long gone for what is there to stop them in raping the companies much earlier? Of course there are crooks amongst them. But there are also crooks among practicing lawyers, in the police and even in the judiciary.
The cyber world is full of trigger happy shooters from the hips. Not that J is necessarily one and kudos to him for wanting to do something about the MSM. All I am asking is that people should consider the facts before deciding whether to join in the fun?
I hope J will have a viable list. It is not as difficult as before, but it can still be tricky. Since we are talking about the MSM, just use Star Publications as an example.
Go to the Bursa Malaysia web site and click on ‘Annual Reports’ at this page: http://www.bursamalaysia.com/website/bm/listed_companies/. Navigate to Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad and down load the pdf file for the 2006 annual report. Then go to page 216 (left hand side thumbnail) and it will take you to the page entitled ‘Analysis of Shareholdings’.
As you can see 3 shareholders account for 58% of the issued share capital. Who are they? Go to page 217. As you can see 40% of the shares are held by:
PUBLIC NOMINEES (TEMPATAN) SDN BHD
PLEDGED SECURITIES ACCOUNT FOR HUAREN HOLDINGS SDN BHD (PBL)
Well, it is well known that “Huaren Holdings” is the investment vehicle for the MCA. It is a ‘pledged securities account’ because “pokai” MCA has borrowed money from Public Bank (most likely bank because of the nominee used) to acquire these shares. I hope they are servicing the interest on the loan. It can be tough from now on. But I’m sure Tan Sri Teh will not call in the loan.
The fun begins when it is difficult to tell who the shares are held for. Well, I’m sure J will be able to tell. Let’s wait for the list. Notice the other significant shareholdings are, as expected, EPF and the other funds.
Okay, a few million citizens have money in the EPF. I have to (just to justify my vested interest). The money belongs to the rakyat for goodness sake. Shouldn’t I be concerned if the EPF also holds shares in a company on J’s list? Should I cut off my nose to spite my own face? Kindly advice me, Shar. I’ll take it.
Maybe Delima has a workable solution. Choose one unlucky company and grind it to dust. Ha ha ha.
shar101
March 30, 2008
Birdseye,
It appears that due diligence isn’t being practiced by the SC.
Talam’s regularization plans are of equal importance as are the SC’s rejection of it. How are shareholders able to conclude whether the revised plans are better than the initial proposal, if disclosure isn’t forthcoming, albeit with prior approval from the SC?
Which comes to the root question – Is the SC running the Malaysian economy?
SV Singam
March 30, 2008
Birdseye, you wrote “Well, it is well known that “Huaren Holdings” is the investment vehicle for the MCA. It is a ‘pledged securities account’ because “pokai” MCA has borrowed money from Public Bank (most likely bank because of the nominee used) to acquire these shares.”
I don’t imagine that this is sufficient cause to suspect MCA interest in Public Bank. They did have an interest in UMBC. Has that already been swallowed by some other UMNO-linked entity?
Anyhow, my question about Public Bank is because I’m in the process of transferring my Maybank accounts to Public Bank. Why Public Bank? Because it has the second highest number of ATMs (CIMB will never be on my list). Why am I dumping Maybank? Because of their stupid ruling recently that all legal firms they do business with have to have 50% Bumi equity. That official ruling was scrapped but I would expect that it is still being applied unofficially.
Of course that has nothing to do with the lies of the MSM. But, when I have a choice, why do business with a BN crony? The loss of my measly business may mean nothing to them. But it gives me satisfaction. And if other are also doing the same thing, the cumulative impact would be significant.
Birdseye
March 30, 2008
SV Singam,
It is not possible to conclude whether the MCA has any interest in Public Bank. Huaren Holdings Sdn Bhd does not appear in the list of top 30 shareholdings in the bank’s shares (source: PB 2007 annual report). But the MCA may have other investment vehicles. Anyway, the 30th largest shareholding represents only 0.38% of the issued capital of PB. So any interest the MCA has is likely to be very small. I honestly do not think MCA have the resources to invest in PB.
UMBC? I think Daim Zainuddin was the man behind this bank. It was acquired by Sime Darby circa 1992 and renamed Sime Bank. Then Sime Bank ran into extreme difficulties in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian currency crisis (Ringitt went down to the famous 3.80 level), sunk by exceptionally bad loans, especially to one individual. The case against the former CEO of Sime Bank (whom I know!) for overstepping his authority to this individual is still alive. It got mentioned only recently. Sime Bank then got swallowed up by RHB Bank which also lost heavily. Only the well managed banks like Maybank and Public Bank were spared.
PB is an incredible success. If one bought shares in PB in the aftermath of the asian currency crisis when the shares were priced at 90 sen (lowest), that 90 sen is now worth at least 10 times more because of bonus and rights issues and the growth of the bank and the rising stock market. And this does not include the healthy dividends they have paid out over the last 10 years.
I think you have chosen well.
Birdseye
March 30, 2008
Shar101,
“How are shareholders able to conclude whether the revised plans are better than the initial proposal, if disclosure isn’t forthcoming, albeit with prior approval from the SC?”
The SC’s primary role is as a watchdog for the secutities industry. They don’t run the economy. They are no where near qualified to do that.
In the past certain shocking deals were allowed to take place. Like the UEM-Renong fiasco engineered by Halim Saad to try to save his own skin in Renong in 1997. It caused the KLCI to tank more than 100 points in one day and foreign funds stayed clear of the local bourse for quite a while because of grave concerns over the glaring lack of transparency in the local bourse.
In this Talam example, they properly disclosed their reasons for rejecting the first plan but does not then compel the company to disclose to shareholders and the investing public how the company will overcome the problems identified by the SC.
They were ready to bell the cat 6 months earlier and ready to prescribe the last rites. Then the temporary reprieve. After 6 months they still cannot decide whether the company can come out of the coma. It beggars belief.
Damian Denis
March 30, 2008
We are starting this boycott campaign in the northern region after meeting up with the editors of Utusan, NST and The Star. l must say we were disgusted by the MCA owned paper response towards the issue of balanced / fair reporting.
So, Penang is with you on this MSM boycott. Let’s make it big and hit those companies that advertise in the MSM papers. Remember we are not doing this as concerned public only but as empowered consumers as well.
We brought BN to its knees in 5 key states on 8 March. I’m confident the MSM papers will start to behave after all this.
Dawian