The Never Ending or Not Related Thread

[jasonhanjk 0]

[Sipher 0]

[evil-zen 0]

i am the walrus.

goo goo goo joob

goo goo goo joob!

[tee 0]

thinking of changing my car stereo from existing Nakamichi. Any suggestion ? Heard new Lexus SUV RX-300 comes with Mark Levinson set, is it true ?

[tee 0]

When will Xbox be able to catch up with PS2 on the penetration of game softwares in Asia ? Is Japan the main cause ??

[tee 0]

 

See exhibition on timeless timepieces at "Anachronism, the game of times" by Jaeger LeCoultre in Paris, starting this Wednesday (25 June) in Salle Le du Notre Carrousel du Louvre.

 

Timeless Reverso

[tee 0]

Some news about insomnia :

 

Men Handle Sleep Loss Worse than Women

 

Sleep Deprivation May Put Men's Health at Risk

 

By Jennifer Warner (courtesy of WebMD Medical News)

 

 

June 13, 2003 - It might be a good idea to let sleeping dads lie. A new study shows that men are much more vulnerable to the effects of sleep deprivation than women.

 

 

Researchers say the findings may help explain why men are at greater risk of heart disease and tend to not live as long as women.

 

 

The study, to be presented next week at the 85th Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society in Philadelphia, compared the effects of sleep deprivation among a group of 25 healthy men and women.

 

 

The participants slept for eight hours during the first four days of the study and were then restricted to six hours of sleep for the following week.

 

 

Researchers found the women handled the sleep deprivation better, both physically and hormonally.

 

 

After the week of sleep deprivation, the men had higher levels of tumor necrosis factor, a protein that increases inflammation. Elevated levels of this protein have been linked to a heart disease, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance (a condition that often leads to diabetes).

 

 

Following the sleep deprivation, the researchers also found that women were able to sleep more deeply than men and were less affected by disturbances in their sleep, such as taking a blood sample.

 

 

"The pre-menopausal women were much more resilient to the effects of sleep loss," says researcher Alexandros Vgontzas, MD, of Pennsylvania State University, in a news release. "In our study, when women lost sleep, they were able to consolidate the sleep that they did not get. Men were unable to do this and often felt the effects of the sleep loss more than the women."

 

 

Researchers say these findings are in line with previous studies that have shown that women tend to have better quality and quantity of sleep, despite increased demands on their personal time.

 

 

"There is a definite difference in sleeping patterns among men and women," says Vgontzas. "Historically, women have had demands, such as infant and child care, which have lessened their ability to sleep through the night. Our research proves that there is a marked physical change in women, which may have helped to protect them from sleep loss."

 

 

The National Sleep Foundation Estimates that up to 40 million Americans suffer from serious sleep disorders. Persistent sleep deprivation can increase the risk of a variety of health problems.

 

-----------------------------------

 

 

 

 

[tee 0]

Nebuta Festival : Are you ready for it in August ?

 

Giant illuminated presentations of historical and mythological characters parade through the streets accompanied by throngs of Hane dancers. The glowing tableaux are made of wood and wire frames covered in translucent Japanese paper. Some weigh as much as four tons - monsters that may take three months to make! See the Nebuta Festival website :

 

n Eb UtA

 

I plan to go there soon and will be trying out the R....yes i mean the new Roppongi Hills (the City where new ideas are born) :

 

rOPPonGi h iLLs

 

 

 

 

 

[tee 0]

Now, something on the politics read from the Far Eastern Economic Review :

 

 

The Betrayal Of Indonesia Five years after the fall of Suharto, a nation's dream of good leadership has faded. Who is to

blame? The politicians, bureaucrats, officers and businessmen who run the country, blocking

change and sacrificing the national interest for their own benefit

 

By John McBeth/JAKARTA

(Issue cover on Far Eastern Economic Review-dated June 26, 2003)

 

FIVE YEARS HAVE PASSED since Indonesia embarked on a path towards better government.

Indonesians now enjoy greater freedom of speech and have seen other signs of progress, including

legislation to battle corruption, encourage proper accounting procedures at government agencies and

improve electoral laws.

 

WHY INDONESIAIS

STAGNATING

•

Many political and business

leaders overlook the national

interest

•

Corruption spreads broadly

through government

•

The military is still needed to

preserve control

•

The courts routinely punish the

weak and exonerate the

powerful

•

Reforms are diluted as they are

implemented

 

But the new era of democracy and transparency hoped for at the end of the President Suharto's 30-year

rule in 1998 remains a distant dream. The country's top political and business figures have closed ranks,

protecting a system where self-interest takes precedence over the national interest, corruption has

penetrated through most levels of government and the military is still needed to preserve control. Corrupt

bankers and businessmen walk free, their debts now forgiven and a burden on the state; a leading

politician convicted of corruption stays stubbornly in office; and military officers accused of human-rights

abuses enjoy promotions.

 

Little wonder, even with general elections coming next April and presidential elections soon after, that

few Indonesians expect a hero to ride out of the shadows and rescue them from another five years of

malaise. "Indonesia is like a stagnant pond with unspeakable things floating on it," sighs reform-minded

former Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak. "The degree of decay here requires a revolution."

 

That sentiment was echoed at a recent street demonstration marking the anniversary of Suharto's

downfall, where students waved placards that for the first time suggested the unthinkable: "Reform has

failed. Revolution is the solution."

 

But don't expect angry mobs in the street or a people-power revolution. Without a dynamic middle class

or other traditional forces for change, Indonesia's political and business elite doesn't feel compelled to do

anything that will hurt itself.

 

In February, 70 civil-society figures signed their names to an unusual political statement accusing political

leaders and senior bureaucrats, serving and retired military officers and the country's wealthiest

businessmen--in short, the Indonesian elite--of failing to carry out the people's mandate. "Fundamentally,"

the statement despaired, "those in power now offer no hope for change." Activist Martin Manurung, who

helped draw up the petition, echoes the cry of a younger generation: "What we need," he says, "is

fundamental change."

 

That sweeping transformation of the political elite was expected following the fall of Suharto. But it

wasn't the cathartic experience it should have been. Golkar, the party Suharto built to rule, remains the

most potent power broker in parliament, with six out of every 10 of its members tracing their roots back

to the old regime. Former Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman says the old economic and political

forces of Suharto's New Order regime have rebuilt their patronage networks, encumbering legal

enforcement and contributing to corruption. "You could argue we were too late in coming down on these

people. They've effectively been able to make deals with the institutions and get to the MPs to slow

down the legal process and not push the government on the issue of corruption," says Marzuki. "It's the

elite looking after its own."

 

Without significant change, Indonesia's direction looks bleak. It suggests an Indonesia that foreign capital

will continue to avoid. It portends an Indonesia lying dead in the water, its vast natural resources being

frittered away, the proceeds going into the pockets of the few instead of toward the growth of the nation.

Indonesia will not collapse, and it will remain intact--but it will never realize its true potential as a political

and economic power.

 

In a nation where old Dutch colonial laws have been retained as instruments of control, the blame rests

squarely on the elite for their abject failure to execute the reforms necessary to make politicians and civil

servants accountable for their actions. Even new political laws, recently enacted with fanfare, still make

legislators more beholden to their party bosses than to the people who voted for them.

 

Sarwar Lateef, until recently the World Bank's senior adviser in Jakarta, points out that because

Indonesia's political transition has been largely peaceful, those who stood to be adversely affected have

remained "remarkably strong and well-entrenched" and able to resist the change necessary for Indonesia

to break out of its current predicament. "Elites can choose to sit on their hands and watch things decay,"

he said in a recent paper, "or they can participate in the good fight and make a difference."

 

Take the way Indonesia's courts routinely punish the weak and politically vulnerable and exonerate the

rich and powerful. Golkar Chairman Akbar Tanjung, sentenced in September 2002 to three years in jail

for corruption, remains Speaker of the House of Representatives as he awaits his appeal to the Supreme

Court. All but two of the 11 senior military officers accused of plotting the bloodshed surrounding East

Timor's vote for independence in 1999 have been acquitted.

 

The government has also had little success in proving allegations of corruption against the judiciary. Out

of 13 judges accused of accepting bribes in the past two years, only one has been convicted--and his

one-year jail term was subsequently reduced to two years' probation. He still holds his job.

 

Former Suharto crony Mohammad "Bob" Hasan is the only prominent businessman to have gone to jail

for corruption. Among the handful of bankers successfully prosecuted in the most celebrated graft case,

the misappropriation of 138.4 trillion rupiah ($17 billion at the current exchange rate) in central bank

funds distributed to 48 banks during the 1997-99 financial crisis, the heaviest jail terms--20 years to

life--went to five businessmen sentenced in absentia. Another 12 convicted bankers received lighter

prison terms of between 10 months and five years.

 

Trials relating to just a sixth of the missing money have gone ahead, with the courts ordering the return of

only 2.8 trillion rupiah. It has been called the biggest bank heist in history, taking a heavy toll on the

economy and leaving the government with little choice but to divert money away from such important

areas as health and education to pay for the damage.

 

As a model, economists are increasingly likening Indonesia to the Philippines, which fell back into the

doldrums after a few years of promise under an independent-minded president, Fidel Ramos. But in

1998, when Joseph Estrada took over the presidency, GDP per capita dropped from $1,151 to $890. It's

now $969--the same as in 1994. In the case of Indonesia, more badly hit by the financial crisis, GDP per

capita plunged from $1,088 in 1997 to $475 in 1998. Last year it edged back over the $800 mark--less

than where it was in 1993.

 

In both countries the elite controls the state apparatus and is generally resistant to reform. Members of

Indonesia's powerful elite, notes Columbia University professor John Bresnan, support themselves by

charging "rent" through a system of licences and preferential contracts--a practice that was introduced at

the birth of the Indonesian republic by Javanese leaders with a taste for money but a cultural distaste for

getting mixed up in commerce.

 

Most Indonesians expect little from their government. Instead, they overlook the fundamental problems

afflicting their nation, and search hopefully for leaders with recognizable integrity--such as Muslim

intellectual Nurcholish Madjid and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Jogjakarta. But these men, despite the

respect they command, lack the political connections to win a national election and the credentials to

govern effectively in a difficult environment.

 

Like exhausted swimmers struggling from one desert island to another, Indonesians seek solace in the

next week, the next political event--and, more recently, in the next generation. Next year's elections bring

little hope. Indonesia's democracy serves powerful interest groups, many of them gathered around

President Megawati Sukarno-putri's Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar.

 

Teten Masduki, coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch, notes that since Suharto's downfall the

pattern of corruption has shifted across all major parties and sectors, becoming a major impediment to

the progress of reform in the economy, the legal system, the bureaucracy and the political system itself.

Megawati's coalition has been marked by the ever-growing influence of money in the process of politics,

public administration and power-sharing.

 

Former Attorney-General Marzuki and reform-minded legislators point to the influence conglomerates

exerted on the 2000 National Development Act, which among other things allowed the Indonesian Bank

Restructuring Agency to recover assets of only up to 70% of their original value. That's one way the

businessmen who prospered under Suharto have recouped their losses. "The real robber wasn't so much

Suharto, but the people surrounding him--and they're still here," says a PDI-P lawmaker. "The people

around Megawati are vulnerable [to corruption] because they never had money before and they never

had power before."

 

Democracy comes with many opportunities. One former minister who served in the cabinet of President

Abdurrahman Wahid estimates the government paid each of the 50 members of parliament's nine

commissions between 10 million rupiah ($1,200) and 50 million rupiah to secure passage of individual

pieces of legislation. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Parliamentary sources say pay-offs are common

in the process of filling senior bureaucratic positions, in the creation of new provinces and districts and in

the disbursement of tax revenue to local governments.

 

Parliament did pass an anti-corruption act last year giving an independent commission the authority to

carry out audits and prosecute corruption cases. It also faced down opposition from senior officials in the

Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia in the recent passage of the new State Finance Act, which

imposes transparent accounting standards on all government agencies for the first time. But the devil lies

in implementation.

 

Every six months, for example, the State Audit Agency sends a yellow, 10-centimetre-thick report to

parliament, detailing the hundreds of millions of dollars of state money lost to corruption and

mismanagement. But parliament rarely holds hearings on the leakages and the Attorney-General's Office

never carries out follow-up investigations. Why? National Mandate Party legislator Alvin Lie can only

shrug: "I've never seen anyone punished based on a state audit report." Nor do Indonesia's political elite

and its business backers have to worry about populist politics. Voting patterns along religious and

nationalist lines have remained largely unchanged for decades.

 

ELECTORAL LOOPHOLE

The new electoral law introduces an open proportional system in which voters are meant to choose both

a party and a candidate on polling day. But selecting a candidate is not required. Such a built-in anomaly

hardly contributes to more a representative government where legislators are as accountable to

constituents as they are to party bosses in Jakarta.

 

"I think we're backtracking, but that's what the big parties want," says Lie, deputy chairman of

parliament's Reform Faction. "It's more important for party leaders to have power than to represent the

people."

 

Former World Bank adviser Lateef says change also requires pressure from below, but Indonesia's civil

society is poorly organized and lacks resources. Without that pressure--or the unified strength of students

and workers who have served as the foot soldiers for change in places like Thailand and South

Korea--the powerful and the corrupt go unpunished. And the rule of law? "Lack of law enforcement,"

Lateef argues, "is perhaps the single most important incentive operating in Indonesia today for poor

governance."

 

Why does legal reform, the starting point for any reform programme, remain elusive? Constitutional

expert Fajrul Falaakh, a member of the Indonesian Law Commission, says it's mostly about a lack of

political will from the top--from the president. The Indonesian elite, including its lawmakers and judiciary,

has never been comfortable with legislation that doesn't leave loopholes. Threadbare laws only take

effect after implementing regulations have diluted them to serve political and economic interests.

 

Under these circumstances, plotting a vision and a strategy for the future is hardly one of the strengths of

a self-indulgent elite that often decries the need for foreign investment, uses nationalism as a

conveniently popular weapon--and thinks only of itself.

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

And a bit of interesting news for some of us :

 

Temasek Wins Bank Danamon

In a remarkable deal, Singapore's state holding company has gained control over one of

Indonesia's most profitable banks

 

By Trish Saywell/SINGAPORE

(Issue cover on Far Eastern Economic Review-dated June 26, 2003)

 

IS POLITICAL GOODWILL the main motivation behind a Temasek Holdings-led consortium's

decision to buy a 51% stake in Indonesia's Bank Danamon? The purchase will help boost market and

investor confidence in Indonesia and assist the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency meet its

commitments to the International Monetary Fund. Ibra, the government body responsible for selling off

bad loans and collateral following the Asian financial crisis, must clear its post-crisis assets this year--its

final year of operation.

 

But that would be a rather short-sighted interpretation of what could be the sweetest deal this year. The

Singapore-led consortium, in which state holding company Temasek holds an 85% stake and Germany's

Deutsche Bank the remaining 15%, will buy Indonesia's fifth-largest bank for just $365 million. "Temasek

is not just doing national service," says Paul Sheehan, head of Asian bank research at ING Financial

Markets in Hong Kong. "This is an attractive asset and the chance to buy a franchise like this in one of

the largest countries in Asia doesn't come along very often."

 

Temasek is paying 1,202 rupiah (14 U.S. cents) per share or 1.27 times 2002 book value. By contrast,

the sector average is 1.4 times book value. Ibra had hoped for a price closer to 1,400 rupiah per share or

about $400 million. And since Indonesia's central bank gave its final approval to the sale on June 9, the

roughly 1%-3% of Danamon's floated shares have climbed to 1,600 rupiah per share. "For a strategic

buyer with management control, buying at a discount to market valuation is certainly quite attractive,"

argues Manoj Nanawani, deputy head of research at BNP Prime Peregrine in Jakarta.

 

But it's Danamon's potential as much as its price tag that may have excited the folks at Temasek--who

analysts say may well sell their stake in the Indonesian bank to Singapore's own government-linked DBS

Bank at some point in the future. UBS figures show that Bank Danamon's net profit rose 54% year on

year to 270 billion rupiah in the first quarter of 2003 from 192 billion rupiah in the first quarter of 2002.

Net interest income jumped by about 170 billion rupiah during the same period, climbing to 572 billion

rupiah in the first quarter of 2003 from 404 billion rupiah in the first quarter of last year.

 

Return on equity has climbed to 22% from 17% during the same period, while return on assets is now

2.3% compared with a market average of about 2%. And net interest margin --the bank's yield on assets

less the cost of funds--improved to 5.6% in the first quarter of this year from 3.6% in the first quarter of

2002, one of the highest in the Indonesian banking sector. Nonperforming loans, meanwhile, are low at

3.6%--well below Indonesia's industry average of 7.8%--and the bank's capital-adequacy ratio remains

well above the minimum 8% requirement at 25%.

 

Without a doubt Danamon ranks in the top tier of the 150, or so, locally owned banks, says Andrew Zlot,

a banking analyst at UBS in Jakarta. "It's a very profitable bank which should produce solid earnings

growth for the foreseeable future," he adds. "There is a government-to-government component to this

transaction--no doubt about it--but Temasek should be pretty happy with their investment. It should

perform well in the next 12-18 months."

 

Of course buying an Indonesian bank carries a hefty element of risk. The country's banking sector was

devastated in the 1997-98 financial crisis and the government is still trying to clear up the mess after

years of thoughtless lending to politically connected borrowers and favoured companies. One of the

biggest challenges it faces is the need to shift away from simply lending to the big corporates. It needs to

create risk-management systems that can assess small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, and

consumer lending in an efficient way. The banks also need to clean up and collect on bad loans.

 

"The bottom line is you've got to have a lending function that works over a full credit cycle and no one in

Indonesia has proven that they can do that yet," says Sheehan. "We believe Indonesia has learned its

lesson by and large, but credit is a skill and they have to learn it--it's got to be developed."

 

NO SAFETY NET

Temasek declines to comment on the details of its sales-and-purchase agreement but analysts suspect it

does not include a "put-back option." Under such an option, over a designated period of time, the

government must buy back any bad debts that are found after the bank's sale. The South Korean

government provided Newbridge Capital a put-back option when it sold Korea First Bank to the United

States investor in 1999 and many sour debts later came to light. "We haven't seen anything like put-back

options in Indonesia," says Sheehan. "The government is not willing to accept any contingent liabilities.

That could change in the future but I don't see them electing to do that. Countries that have done this like

Korea and Japan have wound up with huge losses from it."

 

Fortunately for Danamon--and Temasek--the bank's good management is a strong selling point. On the

asset side of its balance sheet, Danamon has reduced its dependence on government bonds by moving

them into a unit trust. As a result, it has shrunk its bond holdings to 14 trillion rupiah--down from 36

trillion rupiah in the first quarter of 2001. Currently, recapitalization bonds represent 30% of the assets on

its balance sheet, which compares well to its local competitors, which are sitting on between 32% and

58% of their assets in bonds. "Danamon has graduated from the recapitalization process and it's now

moving into financing, which is what a bank is supposed to do," explains Zlot. "They're lending mostly to

consumers in the form of car financing and home mortgages because that's where the loan growth and

the demand currently is."

 

As one of just two truly national retail banks, with a huge retail deposit base and 471 branches evenly

dispersed across the country, Danamon is well placed to benefit from lending to SMEs and consumers,

adds Sheehan of ING Financial Markets. "If you're running a business and you need to remit and receive

across the country, you're dependent on branches and ATM networks, and of the private banks,

Danamon and BCA are your only two options."

 

Peter Tebbutt, director for financial institutions at Fitch Ratings in Singapore, also notes that Danamon

has focused on the SME and consumer markets to a much greater extent than most of the other major

banks, and that in terms of lending, Danamon "is probably a cut above the rest." It's succeeded to some

extent in diversifying its loan book and striking a balance between corporates, SMEs and consumers.

Danamon "has a sounder and more profitable loan book," Tebbutt argues.

 

The purchase may also turn out to be a good bet on Indonesia's rebounding economy. The Indonesian

government has been able to bring inflation under control, reduce state debt and lower interest rates.

Temasek recognizes the long-term growth and value opportunities of investing in Indonesia right now,

points out Kenneth Tang, a fund manager with Credit Agricole Asset Management in Singapore.

Indonesia is at an "inflection point" where interest rates and inflation are falling, recovery in consumption

is gathering momentum and there could be strong recovery in GDP in the next two years. "The banking

sector has been recapitalized and is well-placed to take advantage of this recovery," he adds. "Temasek

has a good eye for value, and investing in Danamon now could position them well ahead of a future

economic recovery in the next few years."

 

 

 

[dgps 0]

 

Good Morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

[N@Z 0]

Seems like it was only yesterday I was thinking how much smaller can portable cassette decks/walkmans can be made. Now it seems rare to see any further development in this field. If they can't make it any smaller at least make it sound better while being powered by a mere single battery! Maybe there is just no market for it anymore.

[Sipher 0]

another BORING day at camp!!!

 

 

[tee 0]

Cheap stuffs at Daiso Store (3F IMM in Jurong). All stuffs at S$2... including things that all members here like (eg. Mozart's....). A Great Day Ahead for everyone.

[adhoc 0]

tee, that article was way overboard.

 

 

Moderator edit:

You are in default, no posting till the next page, any posting you make on the current page will be deleted automatically. Please make sure you read the 1st post or PM me if you do not understand the game.

Edited June 23, 2003 by N@Z

[Blues 0]

hm hm hm....

whose house shall I raid today?

heheh... nearest to me.... hhihihih *evil-snigger*