I’m writing in response to Gan Pei Ling’s article What’s wrong with a rare earth plant, here? Factual inaccuracies on both sides of the Lynas rare earth plant controversy have given rise to a third constituency — environmentalists who believe in the possibility of a technological fix to the problem. I take Gan’s recent piece [...]

SHOULD bumiputera discounts continue for properties worth more than half a million ringgit? Would it be a disservice to the bumiputera community if this race-based affirmative policy was removed?

(Silhouettes by mzacha / sxc.hu) PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is all set to role out a new economic model for growth in Malaysia. The indications are that the subsidy regime and price controls will be abolished once the new economic model is in place. This would be in line with Najib’s other efforts [...]

Petrol prices are going up in MalaysiaON 4 June 2008, the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government announced a 40.6% petrol price increase effective at midnight. Pump price went from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre. Barely a week later, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal opposition launched its Protes campaign. Then PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa promised [...]

CIMB Investment Bank regional rates and foreign exchange strategist Suresh Kumar Ramanathan says in an interview with BFM 89.9 that the 7.6% fiscal deficit arising from the RM60 billion stimulus package announced today will have no long-term significant impact. “From a macro perspective, it looks large, but in times such as these, every country is [...]

OSK Securities research head Chris Eng tells BFM 89.9 in an interview that the RM60 billion stimulus package announced was larger than expected, and had several surprising measures. Eng says the property and construction sectors will be the main beneficiary of the stimulus package, while the auto and plantation sectors will be smaller beneficiaries. The [...]