Nissan Leaf Electric Car For RM83,000.

NEW YORK – Nissan's new electric car will cost just over US$25,000 (RM83,000) when it goes on sale in the U.S. in December, aiming to bring gasoline-free technology within reach of mainstream drivers.

The Leaf, a four-door hatchback, will have a base price of $32,780, but it's eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles.

The Leaf's relatively low starting price — as well as an option to lease the vehicle for $349 a month — could touch off a price war among rivals. A spokesman for General Motors Co., which will begin selling its Chevrolet Volt electric car later this year, said ..the Volt is widely expected to cost around $35,000 before the $7,500 tax credit. Unlike the Leaf, the Volt is not a pure electric car. Instead it's propelled by electricity stored in a battery for up to 40 miles, at which point a gasoline engine kicks in, giving it hundreds of miles more in range.

At average electricity rates, charging the Leaf would cost about $2.80 per charge.

Tax credits for plug-in electric vehicles top out at $7,500. The size of the credit shrinks by automaker after it's sold at least 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. The credit then phases out over a year.

Sime Darby Lecture Series : Ram Charan

By Syed Akbar Ali

I attended the Sime Darby dinner talk series again tonite. It was very nice of Sime to invite me and I appreciate their invitations. Tonite’s lecture was by Ram Charan, an Indian residing in America, who was a former Harvard University professor. Prof Ram’s expertise is ‘corporate leadership’. It was very informative.

The last dinner talk I attended at Sime Darby was delivered by the Sri Lankan guy who headed the United Nations environmental program or something – which shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore (of all the conmen) for “global warming” – another con job. I did not enjoy that lecture and I doubt anyone can even recall what that Sri Lankan guy said.

Since that lecture on “global warming” there have been two exposes in the media about wrong data and fake conclusions regarding melting in Himalayan glaciers as well as what portion of Holland is below the sea level. (The Maldives have not sunk yet either). This ‘data’ was part of the 3000 page “global warming” report prepared by the Sri Lankan guy and his UN team which helped them win the Nobel Prize. Of course the Prize was not based on just one report. But how much scholarship did Al Gore undertake to share the Nobel? And has Obama stopped bombing Pakistan (not just Afghanistan and Iraq) since he won the Nobel Peace prize - within weeks of becoming president?

Anyway back to tonite’s lecture, Prof Ram Charan made some interesting observations backed by snippets of information. It does make for interesting listening. I try to write my Blog that way.

The world is changing at a very very rapid clip. It is really globalizing. If we do not understand the new dynamics we are going to get really left behind. Here is some information : throughout the world now, corporations – the real movers of the world economy – are hiring staff from around the world. Not just from their own countries. They are going for the best people from all over the world and paying whatever it takes to hire them.

Prof Ram quoted LG, the Korean electronics company and among the newest kid on the block of electronics companies. LG may soon overtake the likes of Sony. Korea which prides itself on being so Korean all the time is now hiring talent from all over the world. Since 2004 LG has hired top brains from France, US and other countries to be advisors to the CEO. This has helped LG grow at a rapid pace and take them within striking distance of other electrical giants.

In India, there has been a quantum leap in corporate salaries and rewards. They are approaching world standards in salary and benefits. Regional Managers of telephone companies in India are getting paid USD250,000 per year. This has enticed numerous Indians from the US, Europe and elsewhere to return home to India as ‘expatriates’ coming home. If they don’t get paid enough, these ‘expat’ Indians can go back to the US and elsewhere in a hurry.

(My view is if India has to do this it may lose out to China where a much much larger pool of highly educated and experienced talent is willing to work at Chinese wage levels. China may yet buck this trend.)

Anyway Prof Ram calls this bold leadership – where the corporations are saying that we need the best talent to compete and survive in this world. They are breaking traditional taboos, nationalistic fervours and other impediments because they want to hire the best talent to move forward.

I believe this is especially applicable to countries which have limited homegrown talent pools. Singapore started doing this about 30 years ago. Today there are 1.8 million foreigners working in Singapore (labourer to executive levels).

Prof Ram then said that the days of ‘labour arbitrage, regulatory arbitrage and currency arbitrage are only meant for those who want to buy time’ (before they die – my words).

What this means is those companies or countries that survive by taking advantage of cheap labour, easy or non existent union laws, environmental regulations etc and cheap currency will not survive long. This will be true for the developed economies. But again I feel China, Vietnam and maybe North Korea may buck this trend.

There was more but one other point he said was that ‘people development takes more time and effort than raising money on Wall Street (on the stock market).’ He said always focus on the people and not just the numbers.

(That was exactly what I told the reporter from the Malay Mail who called me earlier in the day to ask about the New Economic Model.)

Finally the food was ok. Though I don’t know what the main course was – it was either the three strips of chicken or maybe it was the square thing in the middle of the plate. May I suggest to Ms Leela Barrock to give us a little bit more food (I know this is a little kurang ajar – dah makan free minta lebih pula) but gym going folks like me have to consume a little more lah. Had to raid the fridge after I got home. Nasib baik ada left over beriani ikan. Yumm.

Calon BN Di Hulu Selangor

By Syed Akbar Ali

I have taken the following from the RBF Blog. Its in Malay and I have truncated it. The writer, obviously from UMNO, is saying that in the name of '1Malaysia', the candidate for the Hulu Selangor Parliamentary seat should be from the MIC.

His arguments are very persuasive. Even the candidate’s name has been mentioned P Kamalanathan, the Ketua Penerangan of the MIC.

At the end of this article I have annotated some comments about this matter from others. My comments follow after that.

Mungkin akan ada dikalangan rakan-rakan saya yang tidak setuju dengan apa yang saya perkatakan dalam artikel ini.

Berbalik kepada isu calon Hulu Selangor yang sedang hangat diperkatakan sekarang. Perkara ini senang saja. Formulanya mudah. Pegang saja kepada prinsip kekeluargaan BN. Semuanya boleh selesai.

Itu kerusi MIC, maka kita kenalah bagi peluang untuk MIC bertanding. Lainlah MIC dengan rela hati menyerahkan kepada Umno. Kita kena saling hormat menghormati antara satu sama lain dalam semangat BN yang sudah terjalin lebih 50 tahun.

Kita Umno, sebagai abang sulong dalam BN haruslah menunjuk contoh yang baik kepada adik-adik yang lain di dalam BN. Biarlah ianya selaras dengan kehendak Pengerusi BN yang juga PM iaitu konsep 1 Malaysia.

Jangan pula hasrat Datuk Seri Najib memperkasakan 1 Malaysia menjadi tong kosong.

MIC perlu meletak calon baru yang segar,bersih dan muda. Orang Hulu Selangor sudah tolak kuda tua (G.Palanivel). MIC tidak pernah ketandusan bakat baru.

Antara bakat baru yang boleh diketengahkan ialah bekas Ketua Putera MIC yang memegang jawatan Ketua Penerangan MIC sekarang iaitu P. Kamalanathan atau lebih dikenali dengan nama timang-timangannya Kamal.

Sumber: RBF

Now here are some comments to this matter from others.

PERKASA KEDAH.

Saya sebagai ahli UMNO di DUN Sg Buaya amat berharap agar kali ini kita pertahankan hak melayu. kalau boleh kita desak agar pemimpin atasan BN meletakkan calon umno di P 49 sebab kawasan tersebut adalah majoritinya melayu. kenapa kita mesti bertolak ansur dengan MIC yang mereka sekarang menghadapi masalah dalaman parti.

kalau kita biarkan MIC bertanding dan PR letakkan calon melayu berkemungkinan kita akan kalah dalam pilihanraya ni. jadi marilah kita sebagai bangsa melayu harus pertahankan hak kita di kawasan Hulu Selangor, terlalu banyak sangat kita berlembut dengan MIC selama ni. berapa banyak kerusi dah kita berikan pada MIC walaupun kawasan majoriti melayu. saya akan mengerahkan seluruh jentera Dun Sg Buaya agar mendesak supaya kerusi P 49 mesti diberikan kepada UMNO.

jika ini tidak berlaku mungkin akan ada ahli yang sabotaj seperti PRU 11 yang lalu. Peringatan buat pemimpin2 UMNO Selangor jika inginkan sokongan dan kemenangan UMNO dan bangsa melayu. Wassalam. Sg Buaya.ut

Here is another comment:

Mahukah lagi pengundi Melayu mengundi MIC setelah DS Samy Velu mengeluarkan banyak kenyataan merapu semenjak kekalahan PRU 2008?

Jika abang yang tua dalam sesebuah keluarga dilihat terlalu beralah, akhirnya adik-adik akan pijak kepala. Adik-adik yang telah lari dari landasan perlu diberi pengajaran.

Formulanya mudah: Prinsip kekeluargaan mesti ada semangat Give-And-Take.

Kalau mahu UMNO memberi kerusi kepada MIC, MIC mesti bersedia menurunkan DS Samy Velu dari takhta presiden supaya MIC & BN terus relevan.

MIC dah xrelevan. itulah hakikat skrg. mengapa skrg baru nk bersuara? di mana MIC semasa BN tgh memerlukan kawan? di dlm masa BN jatuh bukan main lagi nk bersandiwara.

MIC perlu ingat, calon yg diletakkan pada PRU12 di kawasan yg sama telah gagal. biarpun jumlah undi yg calon MIC itu dpt agak besar, akn tetapi ia sudah gagal. Klu di ikutkan calon itu sudah tidak layak lagi untuk bertanding, seperti gula getah yg sudah tidak manis lagi.

Apa yg BN harus buat skrg adalah letaklah calon disukai rakyat kawasan itu. Sebaik-baiknya letaklah calon berbangsa Melayu. Sudah sampai masanya BN perlu bertegas.

It is almost certain that the PKR will be putting up a Malay candidate instead of an Indian candidate. The PKR does not have many Indian candidates and also the large majority of Malay members in PKR would like to see more Malays as their elected representatives.

Incidentally the PKR is wishing to see the BN put up someone like Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib as the BN candidate. Its just a joke.

There are about 64,000 registered voters in Hulu Selangor. The racial profile is about 60% Malays with Indians and Chinese in close proportion. This is one of the larger Indian constituencies. The late PKR candidate won by a thin majority of 198 votes, polling 23,177 against G Palanivel’s 22,979 votes. It was a wafer thin margin. All three State seats in the area were won by BN. This is a traditional BN seat. Most clearly the BN lost in 2008 due to the protest vote.

I tend to agree with the comments posted above. The mood on the ground among the Malays, particularly among UMNO supporters, has changed tremendously.

The UMNO Malays are quite tired of playing second fiddle to the component parties like MIC and MCA when the MIC and MCA have lost seats in Malay majority areas. There is a new found confidence that UMNO can field its own candidates in Malay majority areas. There is a growing confidence that Malay support has come back in places like Selangor.

As one commentor says above, if the BN fields a non Malay candidate, the UMNO rank and file may not be too happy. They may not even support the non Malay candidate. The fence sitter Malays and those Malays who voted Opposition in 2008 may not vote for a non Malay BN candidate at all. Considering that Malays make up over 60% of voters, this can turn out to be quite a gamble if the BN candidate is non Malay. And Indians may not vote for an MIC candidate either.

If the BN fields a Malay candidate, UMNO Malays will support the candidate strongly. Fence sitter Malays and Malays who voted for the Opposition in 2008 may also swing more towards BN. (Recall the slim loss by only 198 votes.)

It is also likely that the Indians may still support a Malay BN candidate. The MIC is in no position to play ‘hard to get’ anymore. Even if the Indian vote is split, there will be some Indian support for a Malay BN candidate. The Chinese vote can be considered mostly gone no matter who is the BN candidate. So UMNO will have to learn to live without the Chinese vote.

Some smart alecks have said that the BN will win with a 5% swing in votes. How did they get this 5%? But we can do some rough arithmetic using 2008 statistics to gauge the risk.

Assuming there are 60% Malays in a 64,000 voter constituency, that is about 38,000 Malay voters.

Using a 75% turnout (like in 2008), that would be 28,500 Malays voting. (A By Election could see a smaller turnout).

If 60% of these Malays vote BN now, that will be 17,100 votes. So the BN would only need about 6000 votes from Chinese and Indians to match the 2008 winning tally.

There are about 25,000 Chinese and Indian voters. With only a quarter of this number (about 6000), the BN can carry the seat.

On the other hand if the candidate is non Malay, and say only 50% Malays vote for BN, that would be 14,250 votes. The BN would now need more votes from the Chinese and Indians – about 8000 votes – to reach the 2008 tally.

It is also possible that if the candidate is non Malay, the turnout among Malays could be lower. Hence the number of Chinese and Indian votes needed will be even higher. And there is no guarantee that Indians will support an MIC candidate. A non Malay candidate seems to pose a higher risk for the BN.

Based on these estimates there seems to be a higher chance of success if the candidate is Malay.

However if in the interests of 1 Malaysia etc, the BN still insists on fielding an MIC candidate, folks like G Palanivel should perhaps retire and give way to the younger generation.

P Kamalanathan would indeed be a very good MIC candidate. Kamal has natural charm, an electric smile and gets along very easily with anyone (pictured here).

My advise is : the leadership must listen to the grassroots.

The MCA Headache

By Syed Akbar Ali

I met many people at a dinner tonite after the results of the MCA elections became known. None of them were happy with the outcome.

The Editor of a major newspaper said ‘This is the end of the MCA’. Then the sms jokes started coming in, ‘the performer has won’, ‘its performance now at the MCA’ and on and on.

First of all Dr Chua polled 901, narrowly beating Ong Ka Ting (833) by just 68 ballots. Ong Tee Keat came in a very distant third with 578 votes. May I advise Ong Tee Keat to call it a day.

Back to the new president Dato Chua Soi Lek has made a remarkable political come back. No doubt about that. He certainly has my respect for tenacity and will power. But he should not have run for the post and the party should not have voted him in. Yes this is hindsight but I never expected him to win. Yes I am quite surprised.

This is nothing personal but he did resign under a great big cloud. This is how things are (or rather should be) ie when you are a public figure, especially a politician, and you are caught in shenanigans you should just fade away quietly. Under Malaysian law, it was not a crime but Chua Soi Lek commited that great wrong when it comes to indiscretions for politicians – he got found out, and quite publicly too. That is a no no.

Even in the US, the most promiscuous and permissive among nations, Bill Clinton was almost impeached when he was found out. Senator Gary Heart lost his chance at the presidency for the same reason. Edward Kennedy could never get Mary Jo Kopechne and Chappaquiddick erased from the public mind. For the MCA, certainly those videos will make their rounds again. How is the MCA going to deal with that? How is the BN supposed to deal with that?

Surely the Opposition will go to town with Chua’s presidency - of the second biggest component of the Barisan Nasional. This morning I was with my brothers at an UMNO session and again the talk was how are we going to handle the issue if Chua won the MCA polls? Even though we really cannot do much about it (quite obviously) I think we should just tell the truth - we don’t like it. It does not reflect well on the Barisan Nasional at all.

UMNO has fired people from the party before this for similar shenanigans. One joker was prosecuted in accordance with the law for sodomy. One Chief Minister, despite being among the favorite pets of the Prime Minister at that time, saw his career ended by the same Prime Minister over allegations of scandalous behaviour. Another Minister, also close to the Prime Minister, got his career ended when he was found out having an affair with someone. (Yes there definitely were other Romeos but they were not publicly found out or exposed). Even an MIC Minister's political career in Government ended when he too made an unscheduled video appearance.

So how is UMNO going to handle a major BN partner whose president has made a video appearance?

Chua’s ascension is also not likely to erase the factional politics in the party. After the results were known, Chua and the others made a show of friendship but that is just Chinese wayang. The kung fu will start again. The new deputy president Liow Tiong Lai has made his preferences known quite publicly that Chua is not in his camp and vice versa. So this does not really solve the factional problem in the MCA either.

There is a face saving device for the BN. Dr Chua is not an MP. He cannot be appointed to the Cabinet, unless of course he is made a Senator. I hope the PM is not contemplating in this direction. And even this victory could be really pyrrhic because the MCA will have another election in about eight months. Perhaps that election can also be a great face saving device for Chua Soi Lek and his faction. Make a respectable retreat. You have proven that you are the party’s choice. After eight months perhaps someone else will helm the party.

The MCA really has to put on their thinking caps. Can they imagine Dr Chua being a candidate in the coming General Elections? Most likely he will not. So what kind of a president do they hope to have? The party will be continually weakened.

This is certainly not a good time for the MCA. The party needs really committed people who are free of too many liabilities.

Lionel Messi

This is Lionel Messi. Watch the last goal.

Dato Najib Please Dont Take This To Cabinet.

By Syed Akbar Ali

Indian traders’ proposal to curb worker shortage

PUTRAJAYA: Indian trade associations, whose members are said to be facing a “dire shortage” of workers, are proposing that the Government allow its members to hire foreign workers through them.

Under the proposal, a member would not apply directly for foreign workers and only associations affiliated to the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Maicci) could do so. This was to curb illegal employment.

Its president Datuk K.K. Eswaran said the matter was raised during the chamber’s hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. “Our promise to the Prime Minister is that if our proposal is accepted, we guarantee that businesses run by members of Indian trade associations will not hire a single illegal foreign worker,” he told reporters on Thursday night.

Eswaran said Najib had responded positively to the proposal and would raise the matter in Cabinet.

Check out this line : “if our proposal is accepted, we guarantee that businesses run by members of Indian trade associations will not hire a single illegal foreign worker”

Can the Pope be not Catholic?

I do hope the PM does not take this proposal to the Cabinet. I would assume that the Cabinet would ponder more weighty issues than this. During the time of Slumberjack the Cabinet was famous for discussing the most inconsequential things.

During the time of Slumberjack a well known nasi kandar operator was known to be in cahoots with a Minister in charge of Immigration to corner “work permits” for Indian restaurant workers. This was like the AP. Without these permits, nasi kandar operators could not bring workers in. The nasi kandar operator was able to secure numerous work permits, to the exclusion of other nasi kandar operators of course.

So if you wanted to hire brain dead Indian restaurant workers, you had to go and kow tow to this particular nasi kandar operator. I recall one new vegetarian restaurant who could not open for business because they could not get enough Indian restaurant workers. Finally they were able to ‘sort’ things out.

Please do not grant any more monopolies in this country. That is what this strange proposal is suggesting. The granting of monopolies goes against the proposed New Economic Model too I am sure.

Why should the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry have the sole franchise to import Indian workers? These things more often than not end up getting abused.

Lets move away from all this inefficiencies. Just break open the market. If you want to hire foreign workers just fill up a form, do a mandatory health check and dont pay any middle men.

I am sure the Cabinet will have more important matters to discuss. By the way when is the new Cabinet coming up? Its almost April 2010. Please dont make any mistakes. This time, leaving people out is more important than who gets in.