Ross Garnaut is Australia's version of Lim Chong Yah-Australians can learn from Singapore how best to deal with economists pre-occupied with their models

by Ganesh Sahathevan




Ross Garnaut


AsiaTimes.com.sg reported in 2012:

PM Lee rejected Prof Lim Chong Yah's "shock therapy" idea, explaining that it was better to apply sustainable measures.
Mr Lee was responding for the first time to the recent proposal for "shock therapy" by the well-known economist and former chairman of the National Wages Council, Professor Lim Chong Yah, to raise wages of the lowest-income workers by 50 per cent over three years.

Mr Lee said: "I appreciate his good intentions, I share his concerns over this group of workers. But I do not agree with his drastic approach because the only realistic way to move is step by step, with wages and productivity going up in tandem...as fast as we can, as fast as it's possible."
Mr Lee disagreed with the proposal, pointing to the 1980s when Singapore pushed up wages sharply and had "room" to do so. He said: "But even then, we ran into problems."

Mr Lee explained that in the 1980s, Singapore's economy was growing rapidly at 8 to 10 per cent a year. It also helped that the country's only competition then came from the "three little dragons" - South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. China and India were not on the scene, he added.
And during that period, the labour market was tight as multinational companies such as Philips entered the labour market, creating thousands of jobs.

He said: "In 1985, when the winds changed, when the conditions turned difficult, we plunged into a very deep recession...We had to cut wages sharply...so that the economy could recover."


Left unsaid is the fact that the architect of the 1980s wage increase was the same Lim Chong Yah.


So too in Australia, where one Professor  Ross Garnaut is being promoted as a modern day Old Testament prophet, who foresaw ten years ago that the "trend" towards more intense bushfires would become evident in 2020. Left unsaid is the fact that the same man is responsible for the zero tariifs policy of the 1980s, which has seen manufacturing in Australia decimated, and Australia becoming an importer of cheap, low quality goods from China.

Like PM Lee in 2012,  PM Morrisson ought ot remind the Australian public of Proefssor Garnaut's record.

END


TO BE READ WITH

Carbon dioxide 8% BELOW Australian climate expert Ross Garnaut's saftey threshold so what's causing the Australian bushfires? If Garnaut's proposals had been implimented trillions would have been lost for nothing

Carbon dioxide 8% BELOW Australian climate expert Ross Garnaut's saftey threshold so what's causing the Australian bushfires? If Garnaut's proposals had been implimented trillions would have been lost for nothing

by Ganesh Sahathevan



Australia's SBS and others have been reporting the following for the past month and a half:

Twelve years ago, economist Ross Garnaut led an independent study of the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy.

The Garnaut Climate Change Review's final report said projections of fire weather "suggest that fire seasons will start earlier, end slightly later, and generally be more intense".

"This effect increases over time, but should be directly observable by 2020."

Garnaut's recommendations, as summarized by The Guardian:

The Garnaut report says developed nations including Britain, the United States and Australia would have to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 5% each year over the next decade to hit the 450ppm target. Britain's climate change bill, the most ambitious of its kind in the world, calls for reductions of about 3% each year to 2050.

Garnaut, a professorial fellow in economics at Melbourne University, said: "Achieving the objective of 450ppm would require tighter constraints on emissions than now seem likely in the period to 2020 ... The only alternative would be to impose even tighter constraints on developing countries from 2013, and that does not appear to be realistic at this time."

The report adds: "The awful arithmetic means that exclusively focusing on a 450ppm outcome, at this moment, could end up providing another reason for not reaching an international agreement to reduce emissions. In the meantime, the cost of excessive focus on an unlikely goal could consign to history any opportunity to lock in an agreement for stabilizing at 550ppm, a more modest, but still difficult, international outcome. An effective agreement around 550ppm would be vastly superior to continuation of business as usual."

Meanwhile. CO2 levels ppm are about 7%-8% BELOW Garnaut's safety threshold.

The question then must be; what is causing the Australian bush fires? It is necessary to start from the basis that Garnaut's work is flawed for had his recommendations been implemented, billions perhaps trillions in economic costs would have been incurred, and for nothing.
END

Australia likely to gain access to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve but may have no place to refine the oil: Meanwhile, is a fuel line stretched across the Pacific or Atlantic reliable in times of conflict?

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The SMH reported  has reported that a deal between the US and Australia which will allow Australia to access the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is imminent. 

By United States Department of Energy

As the maps shows, the SPR is locatedin the Gulf Of Mexico. Geeting it to Australia especiallay in times of conflcit(when supplies from Singapore are likely to be disrupted) will be fraught with danger given the distance, assuming crude oil tankers can be found to transport the oil.

From Turkey Seanews

The oil will have to be refined, and Australia's refinery count is dropping steadily. Refining capacity in Singapore will probably be inaccessible, and US refining capacity may be unavailable.

END

Jho Low remains a wanted man in Singapore but still no explanation as to why Singapore let Joh's sister go....

Australian government agencies continue to ignore 1MDB issues and to discredit work of journalists pursuing 1MDB theft, despite growing international cooperation to recover the funds. Australia has provided Jho Low a base of operations;many of his press statements are issued out of Sydney.

First,the question posed by this writer just over three years ago:

Did Singapore let Jho Low's sister Low May Lin escape the country and did her mother's Goh family connections have anything to do with it?

Report: Jho Low remains a wanted man in Singapore

Bernama

Published: 11:35 am

Low Taek Jho, or better known as Jho Low, remains a wanted man in Singapore, The Edge Singapore reported yesterday by quoting a Singapore police force spokesperson.

According to the report, the confirmation was made after The Straits Times published an extensive interview where Low maintains that he was merely an intermediary of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)-related fund flows and not the mastermind as he is alleged to be.

The report said the Malaysian fugitive was put on the Interpol Red Notice by Singapore back in October 2016, after investigations commenced on 1MDB-related fund flows involving Singapore-based banks.

The report also stated that besides Low, a red notice was also out for one Tan Kim Loong, said to be a close associate of Low, and whose name was used to open accounts with Falcon Bank, the defunct private bank used to launder the money siphoned from 1MDB.

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“The charges, warrants of arrest and Interpol Red Notices against Low and Tan remain in force. Both remain key persons of interest to Singapore in ongoing 1MDB-related investigations,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The Edge Singapore reported that the republic’s Interpol Red Notice on Low was made public only in July 2018.

That was after the South China Morning Post reported that Low was able to leave Hong Kong for Macau, as there had been no request for assistance to detain Low, it said.

According to Singapore police then, such a request to their Hong Kong counterparts had been made, but was denied, said the report.

- Reuters

Evidence in court from Najib that loans from China ,IPIC are illegal ,and can be cancelled -Najib Tapes add to evidence, suggest IPIC , China were complicit in the illegal transactions

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak and China's Premier Li Keqiang attend 
a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, Najib 
seems to have forgotten that he needs the approval of Parliament for his China and 
IPIC funding deals..

The NST reported that during the course of cross-examination in the SRC trial former PM and Finance Minister Najib Razak said:

The Cabinet was kept in the dark over two additional short-term loans granted to SRC International Bhd when the company almost defaulted on repaying RM4 billion loan it obtained from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) in 2011 and 2012.

"They had an inkling but they were not told about the second and third additional loans as it was under my purview," he said, when pushed by lead prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram.

Najib said he also couldn't remember if the two government guarantees issued for SRC International to secure the RM4 billion loan had been tabled in parliament.

The above adds to the evidence below that the loans to an from IPIC, and the loans from China were all transacted by Najib without being tabled in Parliament in breach of Malaysia's External Loans Act 1963. Additioanally the Najib Tapes suggest that IPIC and China were compilicit in these illegal transactions.

The Malaysian Government has strong legal grounds to refuse repayment, and it is suprising that the Finance Minsiter Lim Guan Eng and his advisor Tony Pua have not taken advanatge of the fact in their negotiations with the Chinese. 

END

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Loans to and from IPIC, China may be clawed back : Implications of not obeying Malaysia's External Loans Act 1963

by Ganesh Sahathevan

It was almost three years ago that Najib Razak's government entered into a series of deals with Abu Dhabi's IPIC with the intention, we now know, of defeating the criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice ,and other national enforcement agencies into 1 MDB, the Malaysian Government and Najib Razak , the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.


That intention alone is enough to make the IPIC deal, which has now it seems been expanded to include the Chinese Government ,illegal and allow for all Government Of Malaysia monies injected into these deals to be clawed back.


Over and above that issue is the matter of illegality for failure to obtain the approval of the Malaysian Parliament .As this writer pointed out in 2015, the IPIC debt deal was announced without it being deliberated by Parliament.Subsequently it does not look like it has been gazzetted, as required by Malaysia's External Loans Act 1963. The same now extends to all subsequent and related IPIC deals, as well as the deals with Beijing.

END

Edit article

Published on Published onJune 7, 2015

IPIC cash injection against the laws of Malaysia? Malaysia's External Loans Act 1963 may mean IPIC gets nothing

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

The 4th of June 2015 was the date by which the Government of Malaysia (GOM) said the UAE's  International Petroleum Investment Company  (IPIC) would settle its debt of approximately USD 1 billion  owed to a consortium led by Deutsche Bank.
Recall however that this  debt deal was announced without it being deliberated by Parliament.Subsequently it does not look like it has been  gazzetted, as required by Malaysia's  External Loans Act 1963.

Prima facie it does appear as if the GOM is not allowed by its own laws to accept funding in any form from IPIC,or from anyone else for that  matter , unless duly authorized by Parliament. For IPIC this means that even if that USD 1 billion has been payed over,whatever the GOM has promised pursuant to the deal may be ruled  illegal, and IPIC may not get anything in return.

The relevant legislation is provided below for reference,and readers are reminded that these rules are in place to ensure that government spending and borrowing is properly regulated,and politicians are restrained from driving  the country off a fiscal cliff.




END






AUTHORITY TO BORROW Power to raise external loans, and application of sums raised


2. (1) The Minister (that is to say, the Minister for the time being charged with responsibility for finance) may from time to time raise loans outside Malaysia— (a) for the purposes of the Federal Development Fund or some one or more of those purposes; or (b) for the repayment or amortization of loans raised outside Malaysia, whether under this section or not.

(3) The sums raised under this section shall not exceed the sum specified from time to time by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong by order published in the Gazette and such order shall as soon as possible after its publication be laid by the Minister before the Dewan Rakyat; and in applying this subsection sums raised in a currency other than ringgit shall be converted into ringgit as at the day when the amount to be raised is determined and by the use of such rate of exchange as the Governor of Bank Negara may certify to be then appropriate



(4) Subsections (1), (1A) and (2) shall authorize the Minister to include among the terms and conditions of any external loan provisions for exemptions from taxes or for exempting from exchange control the debt charges or any description of debt charges in respect of an externalloan; and the Minister shall by order make such provision as he considers necessary to give effect to any such exemption from tax or from exchange control, and any such order shall have effect notwithstanding anything in any written law relating to the tax, or to exchange control, as the case may be.

(6) All debt charges in respect of any external loan shall be charged on the Federal Consolidated Fund (as provided by Article 98 of the Federal Constitution), and subsections (1), (1A) and (2) have effect subject to that Article. (7) In this section “debt charges” includes interest, sinking fund charges, the repayment or amortization of debt, and all expenditure in connection with the raising of loans and the service and redemption of debt created thereby
http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%209/Act%20403.pdf

Things are moving on the Chinese side:Najib tapes provide direct evidence of Chinese involvement in the IPIC -1MDB -Goldman bonds :Berejiklian Govt's John Holland dealings further complcated

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The "Chinese side: is mentioned from 4:20 mins onwards.

END


SEE ALSO

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Communist Party China owned John Holland's NSW projects, and Malaysia's 1MDB scandal: Berejiklian Govt has ignored 2016 allegations, which have now been presented in court by Malaysia's AG's Chambers prosecutors

by Ganesh Sahathevan

OUTRAGE! - Najib's Secret Deal With China To Pay Off 1MDB (And Jho Low's) Debts! - SHOCK EXCLUSIVE-London based Sarawak Report was the first to have reported the wholly illegal deal between John Holland parent China Communications Construction Company and the former government of Najib Razak

In 2016 and again in January 2019 The Australian reported:

John Holland’s parent company, China Communications Construction

Company, was asked to inflate costs on a Malaysian project by about $US7.5bn

($10.4bn), more than doubling its cost, according to documents obtained by The

Australian.

The documents show that money siphoned off from the deal was to be used to

plug the multi-billion-dollar hole in Malaysia’s looted sovereign wealth fund,

1MDB, buy controlling stakes in two companies linked to the alleged

mastermind of the 1MDB fraud, Jho Low, and pay tens of millions of dollars to

unnamed consultants.

They also reveal the deal was pitched as “Malaysia’s acceptance of China’s One

Belt, One Road strategy” — an ambitious plan to project Beijing’s economic

power internationally by building billions of dollars worth of infrastructure

throughout Asia and Europe.

China agreed to finance the East Coast Rail Line, which was to link Kelantan,

near the border with Thailand on the northeast of the Malaysian peninsula, with

Port Klang, on the peninsula's western side near Kuala Lumpur, in November

2016.

The Australian reported on allegations the East Coast Rail Line contract had been inflated in August 2016, but is now able to reveal details of documents setting out the proposal. Last week, The Wall

Street Journal reported that Chinese officials offered to bail out 1MDB using

money siphoned off from infrastructure projects built in Malaysia as part of the

One Belt, One Road program.

(John Holland parent asked to inflate costs to plug $10.4bn 1MDB hole;By BEN BUTLER, BUSINESS REPORTER 12:00AM JANUARY 14, 2019


Over the past week prosecutors from Malaysia's Attorney General's Chambers presented evidence in the trial of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been charged with offences relating to the 1MDB scandal , confirming the stories in The Australian going back to 2016 (see story below).

In May last year the Trudeau government of Canada blocked China Communications Construction

Company takeover of Aecon Canada’s third largest construction company t for “national security” reasons.


Despite all of the above, John Holland continues to win major projects from the NSW Government and remains a prominent donor.

Multiplex and John Holland have emerged as frontrunners to build the new stadium at the old Moore Park Allianz Stadium site , following developer Lendlease's sudden exit from the project in July.


The company does have a long history in Australia, but the CCCC takeover does change things.




END 






Malaysia had plan to use Chinese money to bail out 1MDB, court hearsRozanna Latiff, Joseph Sipalan



KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s former leader Najib Razak approved a plan to bail out troubled state fund 1MDB by offering stakes in several big infrastructure projects to Chinese firms in 2016, a former aide told a court on Wednesday.



FILE PHOTO: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia August 28, 2019. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin

Najib, who was voted out of power last year amid public anger over alleged graft at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), is on trial for allegedly receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the state fund he set up in 2009.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Former special officer Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin said Najib sent him to China in June 2016 on a “secret mission” to reaffirm economic ties and investments between the two countries.

The talking points prepared for his meeting with Chinese officials showed there were plans to use Chinese investments to help pay off the debts of 1MDB and its former unit, SRC International, Amhari told the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

“The phrase ‘while simultaneously completely resolving 1MDB and SRC debts’ clearly meant that Najib intended to send the message that this cooperation would aid 1MDB and SRC International through the bailout of 1MDB’s debts,” Amhari said, referring to the talking points.

China has denied reports that its officials had offered to bail out 1MDB in 2016, saying it never attaches political conditions to its cooperation with other countries.


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Amhari said among the deals offered to Chinese companies to fund the bailout were two pipeline projects and the $20 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), a major part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The pipeline projects were later canceled and the cost of the railway project nearly halved to $11 billion after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took over last year.

Mahathir, who swiftly reopened probes into 1MDB, has said investigators are looking into whether a $2.3 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China for the two pipeline projects was used to repay 1MDB debts.

China Communications Construction Co. Ltd, the lead contractor for the ECRL project, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Amhari’s testimony.

Amhari said his talking points were prepared by fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, who attended the meeting with Chinese officials as a translator.

Low, who faces charges in the United States and Malaysia over his alleged central role in the 1MDB scandal, has denied wrongdoing. His whereabouts are unknown.

“In summary, based on the situation that had unfolded and the documents prepared by Jho Low, I believe that Najib had knowledge and had given the mandate to Jho Low to plan and manage efforts to bail out 1MDB and SRC from its losses and debts,” Amhari said.


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Malaysian and U.S. investigators say that at least $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by Low and other high-level officials of the fund and their associates.

Najib’s trial continues on Thursday.


Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Joseph Sipalan; editing by Darren Schuettler
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Najib tapes:What if it was a foreign intlligence agency that interecepted Najib's work, home phone conversations.Who knows what about whom?

by Ganesh Sahathevan


by Ganesh Sahathevan


Malcolm Turnbull and the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, 
on the sidelines of the Apec leaders’ summit in Lima, Peru.

 While it is probably the case that the Najib tapes (see story below) are the work of a dometsic Malaysian player, it is not improbable that a foreign intelliegence agency did the work and provided it to the Malaysians.

If so a number of world leaders are likely to be exposed, particularly those who openly supported the Najib regime in its dying days,despite the US Department Of Justice's !MDB related asset seizures being by then well publicized internationally. 

END 

SEE ALSO 

uesday, January 7, 2020

Former Malaysian PM Najib's work, home telephone conversations intercepted, recorded: Crown Prince UAE caught, other foreign personalties who worked with Najib cannot feel safe

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Malcolm Turnbull's son Alex reportably had a role in blowing the whistle on controversial Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.CREDIT:AAP Turnbull invited Najib to APEC in April 2018 despite the 1MDB scandal.Najib was voted out in Maly 2019.

In the latest episode of the 1MDB saga Malaysia's anti-corruption chief Lateefah Koya released this afternnon a series of recordings of telephone converstaion  which further implciate former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in the 1MDB theft.

Most intriguing to this writer is the fact that the recordings are of telephone calls to the then Prime Minister ,at work and at home, which have obviously been intercepted. The telephone calls include calls to and from the Crown Prince of the UAE and between Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

It is unclear who ordered the interecpets, but intercpeting calls to and from the Prime Minister, especially calls to and from the Prime Minister's home,are probably unprecendented. 

There are Malaysian agencies which have these types of capabilties, so it is not necessarily the case that the intercepts are the work of any foreign agencies, like Australia's Defence Signals Directorate which have been said to be active in Kuala Lumpur.


END

SEE ALSO

MACC tapes depict a frantic Najib pleading with Abu Dhabi crown prince to help stepson Riza Aziz 

Wednesday, 08 Jan 2020 01:35 PM MYT

BY THASHA JAYAMANOGARAN

Datuk Seri Najib Razak speaks to reporters at the Kuala Lumpur High Court January 8, 2020. ― Picture by Firdaus Latif

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 8 ― Back in 2016, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had called the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed Zayed Al-Nahyan and pleaded for help with money laundering accusations faced by his Hollywood filmmaker stepson Riza Aziz at the height of the 1MDB financial scandal, according to tapes of the conversation released by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today.

Najib who was then prime minister sounded frantic in the audio recordings as he sought to clear Riza’s name.

The tapes also contained conversations between Najib and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor who sounded angry as she instructed her husband on how to deal with the fallout from the 1MDB accusations by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

Other conversations recorded were between Mubadala Development Company (MDC) chief executive Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Najib’s special officer Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin.

MACC chief Latheefa Koya told a press conference after releasing the tapes that the recordings were authentic and showed conspiracy at the highest level of government.

Below are some excerpts from the tapes played that lasted 45 minutes:

Conversation between Najib and the Crown Prince

July 22, 2016, 8.54pm 

Crown Prince: Mr prime minister, how are you and how is your family there?

Najib: I’m delighted to speak to you and of course we are experiencing dark cloud, by the announcement of DOJ. That’s why your Highness it is important for us to resolve this to the impasse with the 1MDB soon. It is embarrassing us, Malaysia and the UAE as well as personalities close to you. I wish we can find a solution as soon as possible. Difficult to talk over the phone, possible to meet as soon as possible?

Crown Prince: It’s fine by me but I will be travelling for medical check-up for five days. I can get someone to come to you and talk about it.

*Conversation continues on planning where to meet among suggestions of Najib to fly over to Abu Dhabi*

July 22, 2016, 11.33pm (Conversation between Najib and the Crown Prince)

Crown Prince: Mr prime minister I’m sorry I was late. I’ve consulted with my guys and I really don’t want to push this anymore. This is of mutual interest. I don’t think you should fly over, people will know about it. I will tell my person to come there. He is in California, I will call him now and he can come.

Najib: *sounding stressed and stuttering* Your highness I have a personal request. My son Riza Aziz, related to his movie production in America if there can be an agreement with  Sheikh Mansour signed, so that it can show it was legitimate instead money laundering. At the moment he’s under pressure in America. I’m worried if they make him a scapegoat.

I hope the agreement can be signed immediately with Sheikh Mansour so that it can appear as a legitimate loan agreement. When he (Riza) received it, the bank cleared the source of money, I don’t want him to be a victim when he doesn’t know and genuinely think its from Sheikh Mansour. I need that agreement to be sorted out quickly.

Crown Prince: I promise you, I will do it now and I believe he is your son.

Najib: Yes he is innocent. He just wants to make a movie. Now they want to connect with him with 1MDB, but time is essence my honour. We cannot leave it for a day. We don’t want DoJ to figure.

Crown Prince: I want to finish this, I will help.

Najib: This is very catastrophic. Can lead to catastrophic in my government and your side. This is not impossible. It’s within our means to resolve it.

July 23, 2016, 2.49am (Conversation between Najib and Khaldoon)

Khaldoon: I’ve spoken to Rizal, we meet tomorrow. I think better we meet alone. I need a sit down for me understand directly what to be done. I don’t want him to bring a lawyer.

Conversation between Najib and Rosmah

July 27, 2016, 12.46am 

Rosmah: Maybe Khaldoon should come here with Amhari. Invite him and sort it out once for all..he’s eaten with us...call them to sit down. We can sort out Riza. A lot of things can be resolved.

Najib: I will suggest to Amhari. 

At press time, Latheefa said the MACC will be handing over the full 50-minutes recording to the police for further investigations.

“Yes, we will hand over to the police now,” she said.

SEE ALSO 
Melissa Goh

@MelGohCNA

A fuming Rosmah, heard shouting at her husband Najib over his handling of the 1MDB saga following revelations from DOJ. The proposed arbitration with IPIC will be damaging if it were to go ahead . “ Many will get hurt “ Najib agreed. In total, 8 clips were played by MACC