Wahid, no matter what they say about you, I will always believe that you are a good guy.
I'm wishing you all the best.
Thank you.
Wahid's farewell message,
Assalamualaikum & Salam sejahtera rakan-rakan MBB sekalian. 1. Maaf atas kelewatan membalas mesej kerana saya baru sahaja selesai mesyuarat Lembaga Pengarah dan sesi perjumpaan dengan Warga Kumpulan PNB sebentar tadi. 2. Saya dengan segala hormatnya merujuk kepada kenyataan media yang telah dikeluarkan oleh Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) berkenaan persaraan saya sebagai Pengerusi Kumpulan PNB berkuatkuasa 30 Jun 2018 dan pelantikan YBhg Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz sebagai Pengerusi Kumpulan PNB yang baharu mulai 1 Julai 2018. Ini membolehkan suatu peralihan kepimpinan Lembaga Pengarah PNB dengan lancar dan teratur untuk memastikan urusan pelaburan dan operasi Kumpulan PNB tidak terjejas. 3. Tahniah kepada Tan Sri Zeti atas pelantikan sebagai Pengerusi PNB yang ke4 sejak PNB ditubuhkan pada tahun 1978. Ini merupakan satu kesinambungan tradisi kepimpinan PNB dari kalangan mereka yang ternama dan mempunyai reputasi integriti dan kebolehan yang tinggi bermula daripada Allahyarham Tun Ismail Ali dan kemudiannya Tun Ahmad Sarji. Sebagai Pengerusi yang ketiga, saya berbesar hati menyerahkan tugas kepada Tan Sri Zeti dalam kedudukan kewangan PNB yang terus kukuh dan reputasi kekal sebagai sebuah institusi nasional yang berintegriti. Saya percaya Tan Sri Zeti dan ahli-ahli Lembaga Pengarah serta Presiden & Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan Dato' Abdul Rahman Ahmad dan barisan pengurusan Kumpulan PNB akan dapat terus menerajui Kumpulan PNB mencapai kejayaan yang lebih tinggi lagi. 4. Saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk merakamkan penghargaan & ucapan terima kasih kepada ahli-ahli Lembaga Pengarah, barisan Pengurusan dan seluruh Warga Kumpulan PNB atas segala sokongan dan bantuan yang telah diberikan kepada saya sepanjang perkhidmatan saya. Terima kasih juga kepada Pengerusi, ahli-ahli Lembaga Pengarah, CEO, barisan pengurusan & seluruh Warga syarikat-syarikat strategik dan teras PNB atas sokongan kepada saya & PNB selama ini. Terima kasih juga kepada rakan-rakan semua yang banyak menyokong dan membantu saya selama ini. Saya memohon maaf sekiranya saya ada membuat salah atau terkasar bahasa semasa menjalankan tugas🙏. 5. Setelah 17 tahun 'berkhidmat untuk negara' ('national service') dengan syarikat-syarikat berkaitan Kerajaan bermula dengan Kumpulan UEM-Renong (2001-2004), Telekom Malaysia (2004-2008), Maybank (2008-2013), Kerajaan Malaysia (2013-2016) dan PNB (2016-2018), saya akan mengambil peluang ini untuk berehat sebentar dan meluangkan masa bersama keluarga. 6. Selamat Maju Jaya kepada Kumpulan PNB. Saya percaya dibawah kepimpinan Tan Sri Zeti sebagai Pengerusi dan Dato' Abdul Rahman sebagai Presiden & Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan, PNB akan terus berjaya sehingga mencapai aspirasinya untuk menjadi sebuah Firma Pelaburan Distinktif Bertaraf Dunia. Terima kasih & salam hormat. Abdul Wahid Omar 29 Jun 2018 .
So, I think I write this short one to fill up the time.
At breakfast this morning, I had a conversation with one of my Umno supporting aunts (I'm staying with my aunts for now), which went something like this.
Aunt : I read your blog. It's good that you are still supporting Umno.
Annie : No, I'm not. I'm neutral.
Aunt : No. You are obviously supporting Umno.
Annie : Sigh. Whatever.
Aunt : Eh, I noticed that most readers at your blog are Pakatan supporters.
Annie : Probably.
Aunt : How come arrr? I read the other pro-Umno blogs too but their readers are mostly Umno people. How come yours is mostly filled with Pakatan people?
Annie : You mean based on the comments. right?
Aunt : Yes. Most of the comments are pro-Pakatan. Why?
Annie : I really don't know. They seemed to hate me but they still want to read my blog and even commented about my ramblings.
Aunt : That's why I was wondering why they did that. Why they don't go to the other pro-Umno blogs or just stick to Pakatan ones?
Annie ; Aiya, just let them be lah. Just don't read their comments if they irritate you.
Aunt : Okay lah.
My aunt is just like that. She always asks me weird questions.
She even pressed me for my opinion this morning on who I'm supporting for the Umno presidential race.
I told her that I'm not getting involved in that one because I previously pledged not to do so as I wanted to be fair to the contestants with my neutrality.
But my aunt simply have none of that.
"Come on la. Stop bullshitting around and just tell me what you think," she insisted.
In the end I relented and said this to her;
"They are like in a family.
"Zahid is like Thor, the God of Thunder because he's so thunderous.
"KJ is like Loki, the God of Mischief because he's so full of mischiefs.
"Ku Li is like Odin, the Old God, because he's simply old."
"But I prefer Hela, the Goddess of Death."
Then I laughed.
"Hahahaha...."
Then my aunt smacked me on the back of my head.
'Engko ni banyak main-main lah," she said, pretending to be angry.
After that I laughed some more and then went to work.
Some people got very excited yesterday when police announced that the total value of cash and stuff seized from Najib and his children is about RM1 billion.
They were rejoiced as they believed that Najib and his whole family will surely be thrown in jail soon.
RM1 billion is a lot, okay. So, they are sure more than ever that Najib is guilty of stealing the 1MDB money.
But wait a minute.
Innocent until proven guilty....that pesky basic principle of natural justice which is part of rule of law.
Does the seized stuff and money really came from 1MDB?
They need to prove that in the court first, okay.
What? You all don't like that? Too troublesome?
And the way the Amar Singh policeman made the RM1 billion announcement yesterday was as if Najib is already guilty, right?
Okay, fine, then go ahead and arrest Najib.
Charge him in court now.
Seriously, I don't really give a shit.
Yea, who cares about evidence, facts of the case and all those legal mumbo jumbo.
Or better still, let us just get rid of the court.
Just judge Najib based on public opinion.....like what we are doing now....like what Kit Siang, Hanipa Maidin and the other suggested.
“But what I know, over the years as the head of government, we are rewarded with various items by international leaders and personal friends.
“I know it’s not against the law to accept a gift. For example (Prime Minister) Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) admitted that he received 40 horses from friend and he also openly used many of his friends’ corporate jets. So it is not against the law to receive presents,” remarked Najib.
By the way, I do wonder why he went to Malaysiakini instead of NST, BH, TV3, Utusan, etc for this one.
How about all those big time editors who put up nice stories on him there all these years?
The seemingly missteps n inconsistencies in the initial stage of their of their reign are nothing compared to the mammoth UMNO scandals during the last 5 years. There is definitely something wrong with you who couldn't see them in that light. You lose no opportunity to aim your gun at them typical of frustrated UMNO goons who are still having nightmares as regards to the lost of power in GE14. They thought it was their right to continue ruling and that it was perpetual
I think they are going to use this line for the next five years.
So, if you all don't want to be called a frustrated Umno goon, you better not criticise their leaders.
Not even a bit, okay.
You must always agree that everything about PH leaders are good and beautiful.
When you see this,
you must say handsome nyeeeee.....
When you see this,
you must say macho nyeeeee.......
Got it?
Good.
Otherwise you are an Umno goon, okay.
Actually you could be even worse than an Umno goon.
Annie ini racis...Tun Mahathir said, sometimes in government.. u have to do unpopular things. The point here is simple.. to hire local ppl so Malaysian are employed. If you don't have the policy forever u depend on foreign workers n wages suppressed. You see Japan n Singapore... to go in..u need permit. Pay for it and enforced. That why their chef is famous n Annie like them...they don't have bangla compete their job in japan..Because their government blocked banglas n also their culture... Mahathir say look East..so follow la. Annie don be racist la...ur title very racist
A post-election study conducted by Selangor think-tank Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) showed that Pakatan Harapan did not win the 14th general election because of its strengths, or the charisma of its leaders. It won because of the overwhelming hatred of Malaysian voters towards Najib Razak.
The study also found that the “total support” of non-Malays for PH was also what led the coalition to Putrajaya, while a majority of Malay voters cast their vote for Umno.
"It was not a total support from the people. PH won because the people rejected Najib," IDE deputy chairman Professor Redzuan Othman told The Malaysian Insight.
So, if the study is true, hate was the one that won the election for PH.
It's a hate which was nurtured for years, if you ask me.
They would have said Najib was giving dedak to these elderly Chinese people
Well, I'm not going to discuss that anymore.
For me it's done and over with.
PH won, BN lost.
Whether the method was morally sound or not, doesn't really matter.
That's the way it is now.
It's just that I'm not very good with this hate thing.
I did try to hate after the GE13 but it just didn't work with me.
Most of those I was supposed to hate are people that I love.
I just can't do it.
Many who commented in this blog thought that I hate DAP, but actually I'm not.
For one thing, I have never advocated the destruction of DAP the way many DAP people advocate the destruction of Umno.
I even love someone who supports DAP and I have friends who are DAP operatives.
I also think that almost all of my relatives on my mother's side voted for PH in support of DAP.
But even back then when I was all out supporting Umno and BN, I never hated the DAP people the way DAP people hate Umno people.
In fact, I think I dislike Pas more than DAP.
I have friends who are formerly with Umno but now with Pribumi Bersatu who truly hated DAP and for years wanted the Chinese dominated party to be destroyed.
But really, I'm not like that.
For me, we need both sides of the political divide to have a good democracy in this country.
I criticised both sides when the need arises and if I believe that I know the subject matter well enough for me to comment on it.
Check the archive of this blog if you don't believe me.
And I definitely don't write because of hate.
Yup, not even when I was making fun of Guan Eng.
I made fun of Umno leaders too.
But that didn't mean that I hate them.
Hate is just bad, okay.
It clouds your judgement and makes you irrational.
Pure and simple.
Nothing good will come out of hate.
Not even the GE14 if it's really because of hate. Just wait and see.
The Human Resource Ministry wants all restaurants in the country to only recruit locals as cooks from July 1, says its Minister M. Kula Segaran.
He however said all operators would be given up to the end of the year to ensure only local cooks work in their restaurants.
He said the regulation only permit locals as cooks in all restaurants effective January 1 2019.
“So we want locals to be employed as cooks. There will be no compromise…we are giving you notice to do it by December 31. If you don’t do it we can’t help it,” he told Bernama News Channel here yesterday.
Susah la like this.
Actually, I think this is part of the DAP's Penang continuing war against the mamak,
excerpts;
He said the ministry would follow the footstep of the Penang state government in banning foreigners as cooks in food shops, restaurants as well as stalls around the island.
Since 2014, the Penang state government prohibited foreigners to work as cooks at hawker stalls in the effort to protect national food heritage.
The mamak of Penang are known to be making lots of noise.
So, that's why I believe the main targets are their restaurants which mostly hire cooks from India.
But of course the DAP minister can't say it that way because that would sounds racist.
I think that's why the whole lot ended being hit by the new regulation.
Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and all the other restaurants which depend on their foreign cooks for that special dishes of theirs.
Well, that's just too bad.
Not the end of the world though.
If I want authentic Japanese food cooked by a Japanese, then I simply have to go to Japan then.
By the way I always avoid those Japanese franchise restaurants.
See lah how.
Anyway, the excuse given was "to protect national food heritage".
Yah, sure. What is our national food heritage anyway?
Okay, now let's learn to cook some Japanese food from a Japanese since it will be harder to get authentic Japanese food soon. This is my favourite dish,
I think I got so many haters now because I'm not interested to join the PH choir.
Well, what to do.
It has always been hate that got them going over the years.
For them, I'm putting the entire statement by Najib on Guan Eng's TRXC statement as a morning present.
Hopefully they read it to dilute the hate a bit.
21 June 2018
While I am happy that the government has now decided to continue with the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project which will bring tens of thousands of new jobs and establish a world-class financial center right here in Kuala Lumpur, I want to point out that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has been spreading half truths and outright lies in his statement today about TRX City Sdn Bhd (TRXC), the owner of the 70 acre TRX and 486 acre Bandar Malaysia land and projects.
The take-over of TRXC by MOF Inc for a nominal sum of RM1 effective 31 March 2017, was a key step in the broader 1MDB rationalisation plan. After taking over the two prime assets, MOF Inc then assumed payment of certain 1MDB liabilities from 1 April 2017, in return for the asset transfer. YB Lim himself admits that even with a further “up to” RM 2.8 billion injection by MOF Inc, the TRX project will be worth at least RM7.8 billion and show a profit.
Surely it cannot be called a bail-out if the money is to be used to generate a profit? However, whilst YB Lim Guan Eng conveniently lumps together Federal Government commitments of RM 3.7 billion for both the TRX and Bandar Malaysia projects, he fails to highlight the significant land asset value contained in both projects, and in particular the Bandar Malaysia project. If properly planned, marketed and developed, the Bandar Malaysia land alone could be worth RM 30 billion.
More importantly, no monies from TRXC were misappropriated by 1MDB. As practiced by many companies, approx RM 3 billion of inter-company loans were made, over time, by TRXC to 1MDB. All these inter-company were repaid by 1MDB effective 31 March 2017, through a combination of cash repayments and a set-off against dividends paid by TRXC to 1MDB.
These repayments were carried out with the approval of MOF Inc and were properly reviewed and signed off by the auditors of TRXC in the 31 March 2017 financial statements.
Since the TRXC was owned 100% by 1MDB which was in-turn, owned 100% by MOF, surely 1MDB cannot be stealing RM3 billion from itself to service its own loan?
Once again, I caution YB Lim Guan Eng against making such factually incorrect statements as part of the PH's political vengeance against me and the previous BN government.
Not only is it unprofessional, it spooks investors in the currency, bond and stock markets. Surely the well being of our economy is much more important than the issuance of politically motivated statements?
Najib Razak.
For those who don't hate me, here's a song for you,
Well, of course Guan Eng went spinning round and round to justify the decision, but the fact remains that the project was actually good.
In Guan Eng's own words (excerpts),
“Yesterday, the Cabinet met and decided the TRX project would be completed, with government funding of up to RM 2.8 billion. This decision will help allay concerns amongst local and foreign investors, who have put in billions of ringgit, on the fate of the TRXC.
“The project will also help recoup all misappropriated funds, repay all borrowings, recover all funding investments and opportunity costs, as well as potentially achieve a small surplus return. Completing the TRX will allow the full value of the project, of at least RM7.6 billion, to be realised."
If it's not good, it would not be able to do all that, right?
In fact, I believe it could do even more than those, but I leave that to the clever economists among readers of this blog.
It's quite funny that Guan Eng said "as well as potentially achieve a SMALL surplus return".
But never mind. Politics is just like that lah.
I think Najib will later in the day issues another statement like this,
That one the other day was actually quite funny.....but never mind, I'm not into rubbing it in on people.
With all those in mind, I seriously think the government needs to put aside the political nonsense for now and do the right thing, which is getting down to real work.
They need to acknowledge that if something is good, then they just need to say that it is good.
They need to bring back confidence to the economy.
Running the government with politics in mind is not good because it creates uncertainties.
Never would I ever thought of sharing this.. but here goes .. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim Di malam yang kita bertukar kerajaan selepas keputusan keseluruhan diumumkan. I felt my whole world just stopped. Saya tidak boleh terima kenyataan bahawa setelah 60 tahun kita memerintah, dalam satu malam, semuanya berubah. Perak kalah di tangan PH, tampuk pemerintahan sekelip mata bertukar tangan. I couldn’t sleep the whole night. Then I woke up the next morning, I told myself... ‘maaaaan, I gotta help to change this’.. Saya memang sangat terkesan atas apa yang terjadi, tetapi saya perlu hadam & terima kekalahan & kesedihan saya ini sebagai satu semangat untuk bina semula kekuatan dan teruskan perjuangan. Saya percaya, berubah dan bangkit jauh lebih indah dari pada berdiam dan hanya bermimpi tanpa melakukan sebarang tindakan. Ini adalah masa terbaik untuk kita REVAMP & REBRANDING demi memulihkan Umno. Saya perlu membantu menarik semula hati pengundi-pengundi muda untuk menyokong UMNO & membuktikan kepada pengundi bahawa tiada parti sehebat parti UMNO & Barisan Nasional (it’s proven for 60 years, gais!) Saya tiada sebarang jawatan dalam Umno, baik di cawangan mahupun di Bahagian. Tetapi saya akan menawarkan diri kali ini untuk ‘take up this challenge’ jika diberi peluang. I believed, I'm self-motivated & a fast learner. Saya bersedia menerima arahan, teguran & akan membawa suara & denyut nadi anak muda. Saya akan menghidupkan semula Demokrasi & ketelusan yang telah hilang dalam parti keramat ini. I’m keeping my intentions clear. Saya buat ini kerana Allah, parti & negara. InsyaAllah, jika diberi peluang, I won’t mess this opportunity up. I’m carrying my father’s name with me. ... Jadi, Assalamualaikum & Selamat sejahtera. Dengan ini .. saya Puteri Farhana Megat Ahmad Shahrani dari bahagian Kuala Kangsar... dengan rasa rendah diri & penuh tanggungjawab menawarkan diri untuk bertanding sebagai Calon Exco Puteri Umno Malaysia & Calon Ketua Puteri Umno Kuala Kangsar. Saya memohon sokongan dari adinda-kakanda seluruh negara dan terutamanya bahagian Kuala Kangsar untuk beri saya peluang ini. Terima kasih banyak-banyak atas sokongan & doa, hanya Allah sahaja boleh membalas jasa & budi baik anda semua. May Allah shower His countless blessing to you & your family, insyaAllah 😊 #Puteri4ExcoPuteri
However, I was not excited at all with the latest development.
I felt detached reading the story.
Maybe it's because I have made up my mind not to get involved.
I'm not going to say this candidate is good, or that candidate is bad anymore.
This is now an Umno matter, and as a non-member, I think I shouldn't try to be too clever about it.
All I would do is to ask Umno members to vote wisely for the future and survival of their party.
That's all.
I'm actually following an advice given by a friend who is an actual Umno member.
He said I have been writing with too much emotion about Umno of late without knowing the true situation within the party.
I think he was right.
I did get emotional quite a bit of late.
So, that's it. I'm just going to wait for the outcome of the Umno elections.
Personally, I think Umno needs to survive to provide a check and balance in our country's political system.
We are indeed back to the one party system of the past after the BN's comprehensive defeat in GE14.
The once mighty coalition is in very bad shape now that it can't even be considered as a viable opposition.
The same goes to Pas.
PH could do almost anything it wants now.
Combined with the parties which had left BN, they may even have a two third majority in parliament to initiate constitutional changes.
I believe that the only hope for us to have back the two party system of post-2008 general election is for Umno to revive itself and rebuild BN or initiate a new similar coalition.
It's the only chance for Malaysia to have a healthy democracy in the near future.
Hopefully, this coming Umno elections will produce a good line-up of leaders who are capable of saving the party and later on offer us with an alternative to PH in the next general election.
I'm still at the house in Puchong where my father's immediate family members gathered for the first day of raya.
It's actually the house of my aunts.
All three of them are singles.
All are life-long BN supporters despite none being member of any political party.
I joined their conversation in the kitchen this afternoon and among the things we discussed was a little bit of politics.
They seemed to take the recent BN's defeat in good humour.
"Memang dah teruk, patut lah kalah. Cuma yang power sekarang ni DAP lah. Padan muka kita," said one of them with a laugh.
That's more or less the tone of their little political talks.
Interestingly, they didn't seem to care much about Umno's future and its coming party polls.
"Umno macam tu lah....tak kan berubah nya. Cerita pun buat letih je," said my other aunt.
They were actually more interested about PH, especially Dr Mahathir's leadership of the ruling coalition.
One of them is still a great admirer of Dr Mahathir, another is now against him after he went against BN, and the third, should I say, appeared neutral.
The one who is now against Dr Mahathir raised the question of what will happen to PH after the handsome old man is no longer around to hold the coalition together.
"Kan dah janji nak bagi kat Anwar," said my neutral aunt.
Then the two of them got quite a bit serious on the merits of Anwar replacing Dr Mahathir at the head of PH and as PM, with Azmin's name being mentioned several times as an alternative.
My other aunt, the one still admires Dr Mahathir then suddenly came out with a surprising remark.
"Daripada bagi kat Anwar tu jadi PM, lebih baik lah bagi kat Lim Guan Eng," she said.
My other two aunts laughed at that but it turned out that she was quite serious about it.
She really doesn't like Anwar.
She was a UPM student in the early 1970s when Anwar was a popular student leader.
"Anwar tu pandai buat bising dengan buat kecoh je. Menyusahkan orang. Baik la Lim Guan Eng tu lagi. Alang-alang, bagi je DAP perintah," she said.
Well, maybe she has a point.
Why not, right?
Hahaha....whatever lah.
Still, I hope Dr Mahathir will be around for a long time more.
I think it can be quite scary if he's no longer around.
I'm now in Puchong where my father's immediate family members are gathered for Raya.
Found myself a cosy little corner to write this.
I'm actually the only one in this house not wearing baju Raya.
That's because I have decided not to celebrate the occasion.
I did the obligatory salam and Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin things and that's about it.
I even visited Pizza Hut before coming here because I don't want to eat too much of the ketupat, rendang and such.
What is Raya, anyway?
I don't think it's even mentioned in the Quran.
Did the Prophet Muhammad and Muslims during his time celebrated it like Muslims in Malaysia do?
What I understand is that it's to celebrate the end of Ramadhan where the Muslims congratulate themselves for their success in performing the month-long fasting.
That sounds vain, isn't it? Sorry.
In Malaysia, it's the most celebrated of the Muslims festivities, while in most other countries, it's the Raya Haji, which marks the end of the haj season.
It's more a Malay festival than anything else, if you ask me.
And as with almost everything else which is Malay, the tradition of Hari Raya has most, if not all of its elements borrowed from other cultures.
The most glaring is the practice of giving duit raya, which is a direct copy of CNY's ang pow tradition.
I had previously stated that I refrained from giving out duit raya because for me, it's bad for the Malays.
Money shouldn't be handed out like that.
Money should be earned.
Now you know from where the dedak culture which ended the Malays' political dominance originates from, okay.
Back to the Raya thing, do you all really think there are such things as baju Raya, kuih Raya, lagu Raya, pelita raya, mercun raya, rancangan hiburan Raya etc during Prophet Muhammad's time?
Even if there were such things, do you think Prophet Muhammad would approve of them?
I don't think so.
I believe all those were copied from CNY, Deepavali, Christmas and festivities of other cultures and religions.
So, why should I celebrate those traditions, right?
If I want to make a racket with firecrackers in the middle of the night, I'll wait for CNY.
If I want to feeling feeling as if I'm a white person, then I'll wait for Christmas.
Like that lah.
That's the thing about the Malays, they tend to just follow what others do....especially the not so good things.
By the way, since Raya the way it's celebrated here is a Malay thing than anything else, I rather not indulge in it.
Anything Malay these days is not very fashionable, okay. Too much of it and you'll be whacked Racist! Racist! Racist!
Really, I kena already.
Since that's the case, I have decided that from now on, I will only celebrate just one festival.
Bon Odori.
Yup, since Japanese is back in fashion now, I have decided to celebrate only that one.
Feeling feeling Jepun lah pulak. Can, right?
Bon Odori is next month, actually.
Click on this link to know more about the celebrations here in case you all want to go Japanese crazy too,
First of all there’s the exchange risk – the MYRJPY index has a standard deviation of about 11 points, or in other words, it could move ±20% in any given year:
That’s a pretty hefty risk to take on, and fully hedging it exposes the government to considerable loss every year if it gets its FX forecast wrong (which with FX and given the likely tenor of such a loan, is a near certainty).
Leaving that aside, follow the money trail:
Government borrows in JPY but needs to convert it to MYR to repay MYR debt. This is done through the onshore market, which results in the banking system being short of MYR;
BNM will respond to this by buying the JPY in exchange for crediting the accounts banks maintain at the central bank with MYR. In other words, BNM will print money to maintain MYR liquidity in the system. The reserve managers at BNM will also then need to invest the newly acquired FX in JPY assets, such as 10 year JGBs which currently yield exactly 0%;
The government repays MYR loans with the MYR it purchased, reducing higher yielding MYR debt with lower cost JPY debt;
This debt repayment, paradoxically, adds liquidity to the system which BNM will have to absorb. They’ll either issue BNM bills at the prevailing market rate, or as they’ve done for the past few years, do repo operations instead. This reduces the liquidity back to normal again.
The end result:
Government reduces MYR liabilities, but adds lower yielding JPY liabilities, a net cost advantage.
BNM adds low yielding JPY assets, but also adds MYR debt at domestic market rates, a net cost disadvantage.
In essence, what’s happened is that the government has just transferred the interest cost it was bearing to BNM.
The same effect could be achieved by the government just issuing lower yielding debt securities to BNM in exchange for new money (which BNM will have to sterilise with it own higher yielding liabilities), but without taking on the FX exchange risk.
In other words, refinancing MYR debt with JPY debt makes no sense at all.
Last point: the irony, for those who are aware of the situation in Japan, is that any Japanese government loan to Malaysia will likely be funded by the Bank of Japan’s own money printing. The BOJ has been engaged in quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE) since Governor Kuroda took over at the BOJ in 2013, aggressively buying up to JPY80 trillion of government securities, or about USD725 billion, every month. Nearly half of Japan’s government debt is currently held by the BOJ.
Well, that's about it.
Okay, okay, some of you may not be happy about what I wrote on Raya here. For you all, here's a Raya song,
