Monday, May 4, 2009

HOW IPOH LOST ITS LUSTRE! TIEW!


DISCLAIMER

This is not Zorro....this is me HANTU. He left in a huff and refused to tell me where he was
going. I tell him everything and he tells me nothing. I think he has gone south to confer with RPK. Pete always tells: Don't get mad, get even. So here goes.....Zorro can't get me. I have wings, right?

Of course I have access to his password and privy to many things. He will forgive me for this intrusion as I have made a disclaimer. He will get mad, but he forgives and forget pretty easily. The above title was what I saw on the screen when he left.....and I remember sending him how we lost our tin ore reputation and all. Yes! He kept my article. I will give him a surprise and post it:

Subject: Ngar-Choy-Kai-City


This issue is fully explained in a book titled "Marc Rich and the Billion Dollars Scam". It is a black cover book, banned in Malaysia but is available off the shelf down south.

The last time I met a friend who was born after the Tin-bust, I asked him in jest, “Do you know what Ipoh's famous for?”

He gave me a blank look. Anyway, not wasting any time, I told him, “Tin-lah.” “If there is no tin, Ipoh wouldn’t be here. It would be just another Orang Asli settlement. He squinted his eyes and responded, “Are you sure? I thought it was Ngar-Choy-Kai.”

Thanks to Barisan Nasional for single-handedly transforming Ipoh from a rich and bustling Tin-City to a Ngar-Choy-Kai (Bean-Sprout with Chicken) industry. Ipoh never recovered from this fatal stroke of incompetence and greed to corner the World Tin Market. As a result of this, the once vibrant Tin Industry was totally wiped out.

It all started with a shady Egyptian tin trader by the name of David Zaidner. He worked for the commodities firm Marc Rich & Co in Switzerland. ( I'll ask my children to remember their names!)

Actually, he first approached the Indonesian government thinking that they were stupid enough to buy his idea of cornering the tin market. But the Indonesians smelled a con job and had him kicked out of the country.


Next, he couldn't believe his lucky stars when his idea was accepted with enthusiasm by our then brand-new Prime Minister, A plan was quickly hatched to corner the World Tin market.

In December 1980, the state-owned Malaysian Mining Corp. Bhd(MMC). named Marc Rich as its trading agent in a move that would shock the world commodities industry.

Secret large tin purchases were made on the London Metal Exchange and went unabated throughout 1981, inducing a worldwide price increase. The strategy was cheap and simple. Malaysia had to only pay a 10 percent deposit against three-month's forward purchase contracts.

When the price of tin shot up in the world market, the Malaysian government thought it had scored a huge victory. But unexpectedly, the price increase attracted many world producers to increase tin production and even the United States began selling from its strategic stockpiles to take advantage of the Malaysian-induced price rises.

Subsequently, Malaysia amassed about 50,000 tons of tin and had no other choice but to keep buying just to keep prices up ( being "shot-squeezed" ). Production continued to soar and even unheard-of suppliers started to turn up to cash in on the high tin price. The world tin market went berserk and it crashed. (the Palm Oil market could face the same faith! - oh, maybe not, because FELDA/FELCRA are involved.)

Malaysia lost an estimated US$250 million on its failure to honour forward contracts, and another local bank lost another US$1 billion in separate losses on loans it had made covertly out of its Hong Kong subsidiary.


For five years Mahathir categorically denied that Malaysia had anything to do with the plan but as outside pressure mounted, Mahathir finally revealed the details in 1986.

Marc Rich was finally indicted and arrested then extradited to the United States and convicted of massive tax fraud.


Think of the billions of ringgit taken out of our economy in Perak when the tin price went bust. Had Mahathir not meddled with the tin price, we wouldn't have lost 30 years of Tin export income. Perak wouldn't have been relegated from one of the richest states to a poor one like today.

Another good example akin to the Perak demise is Terengganu. If all the oil royalties go to the people of Terengganu, Terengganu would be an advanced state at par with Selangor. But unfortunately, these royalties go to the pockets of BN politicians and cronies in the form of “Duit Esan”.

"To all our children,... you must all remember them by their names ! "

This material was lifted from:

A Billion Ringgit Tin Mining Industry to Nga-Choy-Kai Industry -

By Choo Sing Chye .

Researched from Steven Schlossstein's book,

Asia's New Little Dragons



But the illegitimate MB is trying to bring
back some SHINE with a new industry.
after some Queen's Counsel that he consulted
refused to take up his case.
The Right Honorable says he had a better chance
selling Snake Oil.
(JONG directed me to this YouTube)

+++++

Something exciting HERE


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Che Det is very angry with the hedege fund traders who played the same poker game he played which resulted in the Tin debacle (Tin Market collapse) in the early 1980's and now got burnt big and in the process screwing up the worlds banking and finance industry. A brief on Che Det's comments is appended below:


1. The business done by the hedge funds are more complex. But they too can borrow up to 30 times the investors' money they hold. They are therefore able to earn for the investor the profits from 30 times the investors' money. Even after paying interest to the banks and taking their share or commission, the earnings to the investor from 30 times his money would be very big - certainly far bigger than if the investor were to invest directly himself.

2. It is estimated that the 8000 hedge funds manage a total of 620 trillion dollars. Such is their game that the investors are assured of high profits. How they invest is often shrouded in secrecy. Much use is made of tax haven where they need not submit accounts of their study business.

3. The poorer countries are not much involved in the shadow businesses and their indices would reflect their economy much more accurately.

Che Det is very angry and feels that these scumbag hedge fund traders should have learnt the lesson from his mistake in trying to corner the world tin market for quick big bucks which brought down the entire tin market with massive losses for Malaysia.

So Che Det's advice to these greedy hedge fund traders is not to repeat his mistake and greed.

backStreetGluttons said...

Gawd this is a brilliant piece of espionage work ! Superbly crafted for total reading pleasure , though with a horribly sad ending.

Hope 7th May 2009 could see some redemption of sorts coz we really need it...

TQ

Eric said...

Hello Hantu,

perhaps uncle Bernard has gone to Ipoh already?

That Marc Rich is quite infamous in other places too. He led a metal firm (Metaleurope) to go bust in France in aggravated circumstances. Glencore, Marc Rich's current operating company, removed most valuable assets of Metaleurope and left them to die with all the liabilities (eg depollution of factory sites, etc.). The staff were laid off overnight with no severance pay and the French State to pick up the stab, while the Swiss-based holdings went unscathed.
I guess Marc Rich and Mahathir are the same type of crooks who suddenly lose memory of their bad deeds. Lingam tape follow up anyone?

If you see Zorro, please let him know we'll be in Ipoh too.

Anonymous said...

"...So Che Det's advice to these greedy hedge fund traders is not to repeat his mistake and greed...."Fair advice. So what happens to the bottling industry now that snake oil production is stopped? Some is still packaged in Perak!

-Gambir Stockist-

Anonymous said...

Losing the amount of the country's money is criminal.

Anonymous said...

And.... they call this an Islamic country....!

Are they as Islamic about it as they are................???????

Anonymous said...

wearing BLACK for 2moro ?
zombie has the advantage wen naked !!