Ganesh Sahathevan

Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yackop's promotion from economic adviser to the Prime Minister to second finance minister should assuage two groups of people: those who have felt that the Prime Minister did not have the necessary background or acumen to handle the finance portfolio. ..One of the Prime Minister's chief concerns since coming into office has been to make sure that government spending is kept under control and that contracts and projects are given out in a more transparent manner. The Prime Minister said.....: 'I need a minister who is always available in the ministry. He is a professional. Someone who does not need to worry about politics.' (Source:Two new postings reflect Abdullah's priorities. Brendan Pereira,8 January 2004,Straits Times) 4 Years Later: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop will square off with Pas candidate Ismail Salleh, 64, in his political debut. Tasek Gelugor incumbent MP Datuk Seri Mohd Shariff Omar agreed to make way for the second finance min...

The Pacific Islands can be divided into four spheres of influence: American, Australian, New Zealander, and French....Australia’s regional interests focus on the islands south of the equator, including the relatively large Melanesian nations of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Solomon Islands as well as Vanuatu....The U.S. government has both tacitly and openly supported Australia’s growing leadership role in the region. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become a growing force in the Southwest Pacific .....In order to garner political and economic influence in relation to Taiwan, the United States, and U.S. allies as well as to access raw materials, China has expanded its diplomatic and commercial presence in the region. By some accounts, the PRC has become the third-largest source of foreign aid to the South Pacific, which it largely provides without the kinds of conditions or performance criteria — some say heavy-handedness — that have engendered resentment among some Pacific Is...

In an interview on Australian foreign policy to Jim Middleton on ABC Radio Canberra's 'Newshour' programme, Rudd said: 'I welcome the current level of dialogue and cooperation between those three governments (Washington, Tokyo and Canberra). But I believe that's where it most appropriately should stand into the future.' Last year, China was irked at Japan's moves to expand the strategic dialogue to include India. Rudd told ABC Radio Canberra: 'When it comes to other proposals I have seen, which is to somehow quadrilateralise this and involve India, I have also been very plain and blunt about the fact I don't think that's an appropriate direction for us to go at this stage. I don't think our friends in New Delhi would particularly welcome that as well. ' (http://www.indiaenews.com/australia/20080221/99157.htm) Here on the other hand is what the Indians have had to say about Rudd's decision to end quadrilateral talks, excluding India fo...

As reported in THE STAR, 11 April 1997: Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib has quit as Selangor Mentri Besar amid controversy relating to his court case and properties worth millions in Australia Responding to a remark that the charge in the Brisbane Magistrate's Court only involved Muhammad's failure to declare the cash and not related to corruption, Dr Mahathir said the charges he faced had affected the party. ''We are more concerned with Umno. He (Muhammad) felt that he was responsible. It is his right to make a decision. ''Party members should not smear Umno's name or do something that can cause the party to be seen in a bad light (http://161.139.39.251/akhbar/cabinet.off/1997/ss97413.htm) As reported in THE STAR, Wednesday February 20, 2008 TAN Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib, the popular Mike Tyson of Umno, is set to play a big role in the Federal political scenario, if he is elected an MP in the general election. The former Selangor mentri besar is almost cert...

RBA Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey in 2005 ( Howard Era): I commented at another event last week that the broader observation that supply constraints are becoming more important shouldn't strike people as all that surprising...The severity of the current skills shortage is captured by some of the business surveys which report the difficulty of finding suitable labour now is as high as it's been in the last two decades ... Against the background of capacity pressures in labour and product markets, and rising world commodity prices, it's not surprising to have seen broader price pressures emerging recently. Our quarterly statement noted that upstream price pressures had picked up during 2004 (http://www.rba.gov.au/Speeches/2005/sp_ag_030305.html) Malcolm Edey on 19 February 2008 ( Rudd Era) Addressing a group of business leaders in Sydney yesterday, a Reserve Bank assistant governor, Malcolm Edey, said labour markets had become more flexible in the past 20 years, which shou...

New Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan has called an end to the Howard government policy of returning excess budget surpluses as tax cuts, saying the Reserve Bank had been allowed to shoulder too much responsibility for controlling inflation with interest rate rises. The Treasurer said under the Rudd Government, any windfall revenue would be allowed to mount up as a larger budget surplus and would be quarantined, either with the Reserve Bank or the Future Fund. "We will be banking any upward revisions to revenue, if they occur," he told The Australian. (http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,23179313-462,00.html) The Treasurer's proposal should be evaluated in light of the examples of Singapore and Malaysia, where compulsory savings banked into government managed and controlled funds are in effect a form of income tax. The Singapore government agency charged with the management of these funds is known as the Central Provident Fund (CPF),while its Malaysian equivalent...

Bernama reported on February 4, 2008: Thai Air Asia.... suffered losses of over one billion baht (10 baht=95 sen) last year due to penalties and maintenance costs after it cut short the lease period of its Boeing 737-300 fleet. Chief Executive Officer Tassapon Bijleveld today described it as only a one-off loss as he was confident the airline will return to profit this year, with the target of carrying five million passengers as the arrival of five more Airbus 320 aircraft adds 20 percent to its seating capacity. (http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=312186) FlightGlobal reported: Low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia posted a loss last year as it faced more intense competition and higher costs. This is according to the airline’s CEO, Tassapon Bijleveld, who told journalists in Bangkok that the carrier has had to pay lessors penalties for breaking leases on some of its Boeing 737-300s and had to spend money on maintenance to get these aircraft ready to be returned. He says the...