Mar 14, 2012

Singapore Most Competitive in Asia and Malaysia is..



Singapore is rated the 3rd most competitive cities after New York (1st) London (2nd) and the most competitive in Asia in a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit commissioned by Citigroup Inc.


The report covered a total of 120 global markets, assessed on the basis of 21 qualitative and 10 quantitative indicators.


It defines competitiveness as the demonstrted ability to attract capital, business, talent and visitors.


In Asia, Singapore topped the list as the most competitive followed by Hong Kong and Tokyo.


Asian cities dominated the economic strenght category, the most highly weighted category with fifteen of the top 20 cities for economic strength from Asia with 12 cities from China.


Singapore rated highly in categories of physical capital (joint 1st), financial maturity (joint 1st), institutional effectiveness (6th) and global appeal (4th)


Mr Michael Zink, head of ASEAN and Citigroup country officer for Singapore said: "It's a terrific place to do business - it's very open and global city and we have the opportunity to compete fairly and evenly against domestic players."


"The playing field here is quite level. So as long as we can continue to compete domestically, we'll continue to invest.And as long as Singapore maintains its competitiveness against other financial centers around the world, I can see us continuing to bring more and more activity into Singapore"


And oh ya er.. Malaysia's capital of  Kuala Lumpur is rated at no. 45 most competitive and in the economic strength category it stands at no 44 below Jakarta at no.43, Ho Chi Minh at no.36, Hanoi at no 20. And nothing very much further to report on Malaysia's ranking except that it is quite embarrassing falling behind most of its lesser neighbors. 


Malaysia must learn from this little neighbor down south if it wants to improve and to be an advance nation like Singapore, many of the experts doubt that Malaysia can ever catch up with Singapore in the next 50 years if umno continues to govern.


An extract of the Executive Summary from the Economist:



Well over half of the world’s population now lives in cities, generating more than 80% of global 
GDP. Already, global business is beginning to plan strategy from a city, rather than a country, 
perspective.




Given the rapid growth and development of many cities, particularly in emerging markets such as China and India, competition between them for business, investment and talent will only get fiercer.


Size alone does not determine a city’s growth potential. While some megacities, such as New York and Tokyo, are immensely influential, there are smaller ones, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which have established themselves as globally competitive centres in recent years. 


Meanwhile, emerging market cities such as Ahmedabad and Tianjin are witnessing double-digit economic growth and have the potential to grow even faster.


Competitiveness, however, is a holistic concept. While economic size and growth are important and necessary, several other factors determine a city’s overall competitiveness, including its business and regulatory environment, the quality of human capital and indeed the quality of life. These factors not only help a city sustain a high economic growth rate, but also create a stable and harmonious business and social environment.


With this in mind, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) was commissioned by Citigroup to develop a “Global City Competitiveness Index” to rank cities according to their demonstrated ability to attract capital, businesses, talent and visitors.




Mar 13, 2012

Savage State of Affairs


Found this poster in facebook in reaction to the horrendous murder of 5 year old Nurl Nadirah whose body was found burned and buried in a hole in an oil palm estate in the city of Johor Bahru.

Just days ago the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin came out singing praises of the reduction in crime rate and claiming that Malaysia is the safest country in South East Asia.

To claim that Malaysia is the Safest Country in South East Asia is quite unbelievable and its citizen will tell you this as just about anyone you meet in the cities of Malaysia will be able to relate to you recent crime happenings.

A flip of today's papers will show you the number of serious crimes and murders all in a day and yet these are only the serious crimes that made the news.

A drive through Malaysian residential area will show that the residence live in fear of crimes as most housing locations will have barricades erected with guards employed for their own security. the residents will tell you that these are just preventive measures and that even with guards and barricades the crimes of robberies and theft are still being reported.

Let's just see the crimes in today's the Star paper as reported;

1) the Murder of 5 year old Nurul is reported only on page 3 of the Star

2) the headline of the Star carried the news of the Criminal Breach of Trust of the National Feedlot Issue on the charges to the husband of umno Minister Shahrizat.

3) The Star carried on a side column on the same page 3 "Tragic List of young innocent victims of monsters".

4) Page 6 of the Star carried the report of a Russian student who was a victim of some serial snatch thieves in George Town, she is believed to be the third victim in a week.

5) Page 8 "Double Murder Mystery" the murder of a man and his 23 year old daughter in Serdang, Kuala Lumpur.

6) Page 20 reports the seizure of 3.1 kg Syabu, a typeof drug carried by a 25 year old Malaysian woman caught in Butterworth.

7) Page 22 reports the conviction of a serial rapist in Kota Baru, Kelantan.

8) Page 23 carried the news of V.Nirmal a security firm operator gunned down in a Restaurant in Klang, Selangor.

9) Page 26 reports the conviction of a Man who was fined RM4000. for distributing Loan Shark namecards and vouchers.

10) Page 28 reports the murder of a Thai man found with his throat slashed in Jitra, Kedah.

11) Page 29, carried the news of a Georgian woman's drug case in the High Court of George Town.

So, Mr Deputy Prime Minister, Are you sure or not, that Malaysia is the Safest Country with the lowest crime rate in South East Asia?

Read the murder of 5 year old Nurul Nadirah HERE
Read the Tragic List of Young Innocent Victims HERE

Looking Back - After the Tsunami

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Mar 6, 2012

China – Some Background, Culture, People and a Brief Philosophy of Strategy



China – Some Background, Culture, People and a Brief Philosophy of Strategy

There has been much misconstrued perception that the people of China are homogenous, the people of China are not homogenous and are in fact one of the most multi ethnicity nation in the world all throughout its history.

Today China has 56 multi ethnic groups officially recorded and in the ancient Chinese almanac “Tung Shu” has listed that there were more than 90 ethnic groups.

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