Chow Kon Yeow: 曹观友

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry today tabled a bill to enact a new Act (Safeguards Act 2006) to make provisions for investigation and determination of safeguard measures on products imported into Malaysia.

This Act shall be applied in conformity with the obligations of Malaysia under the Agreement Establishing the WTO, done in Marrakesh, on 15 April 1994, including the GATT 1994, and the Agreement on Safeguards.

It also deals with the appointment of an investigating authority to take action in respect of the initiation of safeguard measures on imported product into Malaysia.

Last session, several DAP MPs raised concern over the opening up of the water management services to foreign interests and called on the government to be extra careful over the possibility of losing our sovereignty.

We also expressed concern over the ongoing negotiations on the US-Malaysia FTA because we do not want to see our domestic industry losing out in this era of globalization.

While such safeguards are necessary, the country should look into improving ourselves and to have the competitive edge over our neighbours.

In essence, it is not how much we protect our industries from world competition but to ensure our products are competitive. Government policies, private initiatives and human resources development are all important aspects.

The New Sunday Times carried an article entitled “Is share capital a fair indication of wealth?” on 14 May 2006.

It reproduced a table from the Ninth Malaysian Plan report on “ownership of share capital of limited companies” which put the Bumiputera share at 18.9 percent at the end of 2004.

There can be a lot of debates on how should wealth be measured for the purpose of distribution.

MCA Youth secretary-general Dr. Wee Ka Siong was interviewed and he said the Ninth Malaysia Plan table “does not reflect the property and wealth accumulated by GLCs which hold one-third or 35 percent of total market capitalization.”

Dr Wee is also MP for Air Itam, however did not release figures of ownership of ownership of share capital at the Bursa Malaysia.

He has asked the Finance Minister through an oral question at Dewan Rakyat on 18 April 2006 to state the latest figures on the percentage of ownership held by Bumiputera, non-Bumiputera and foreign equity based on the current market value.

The Finance Minister replied that based on the financial reports of listed companies submitted as at 30.6.2005, the percentage of share ownership are as follows:

Bumiputera* 36.1%

Non-Bumi 41.0%

Government** 6.4%

Foreign 16.5%

* includes government agencies meant for Bumiputera

** government agencies which include non-Bumiputera interests like Khazanah, MoF Inc., Bank Negara, EPF and Pension Fund

All the above figures are calculated on the par value and not net value and therefore do not reflect the true Bumiputera equity.

It is interesting to note that if shares held by GLCs, which are recognized as Bumiputera private sector investments, are included it would bring Bumiputera equity to more than 40 percent.

Another interesting observation is if shares allocated to Bumiputera are still retained, it would further increase Bumiputera equity.

The government must come out clean on the issues as continuing the NEP objective of 30 percent Bumiputera equity and its abuses would not be able to help achieve the goal of national unity.

Menteri Kewangan Kedua Senator Tan Sri Mohd. Nor Yaakob terpaksa membuat pelbagai penjelasan apabila ramai Ahli Parlimen menimbulkan soalan-soalan tentang pengendalian harga minyak di Dewan Rakyat pagi ini.

Tan Sri Mohd Nor Yaakob hampir buat kesilapan besar apabila beliau menegaskan bahawa Malaysia sebenarnya beruntung apabila minyak dunia naik hingga USD100 setong sebab Malaysia negara pengeksport minyak.

Tetapi setelah didesakkan oleh Ahli-Ahli Pembangkang, beliau mengaku bahawa sebenarnya kerajaan juga tidak berhasrat melihat harga minyak dunia mencecah melebihi USD100 setong kerana kesannya akan membawa dunia kepada kemelesetan ekonomi yang juga akan menjejaskan ekonomi Malaysia.

Menteri Kewangan II itu juga menegaskan kerajaan adalah terikat dengan jaminan bahawa harga minyak tidak akan dinaikkan tahun ini walaupun paras harga minyak dunia naik. Beliau menambah bahawa ini tidak menimbulkan masalah kepada pihak kerajaan.

Saya ambil kesempatan tanya Menteri Kewangan II, “Jika pada masa ini tidak menjadi masalah walaupun harga minyak sudah naik dari 60 USD kepada 72 USD setong, bilakah ia akan menjadi masalah. Apakah kepastian jaminan kerajaan itu mampan (sustainable) dan dapat disokongkan sekiranya harga minyak benar-benar naik sehingga USD100 setong?

Saya rasa jaminan itu ada satu jaminan politik semata-mata, tetapi sekiranya harga minyak naik sehingga satu paras yang tidak dapat disokongkan, apakah kerajaan akan buat demi kebaikan negara.

Menteri Kewangan II juga perlu menjawab dengan panjang lebar mengenai FTA dengan Amerika Syarikat dan penarikan pelaburan langsung asing apabila ramai Ahli Parlimen menimbulkan pelbagai perasaan was-was mengenai FTA.