To be fair to MB, this site doesn’t notify authors if and when there are comments to their articles. They have to check manually. I learned that the hard way. He might have no idea.
1. For the Malaysian CPI, the latest revision includes 530 items.
2. & 3. I suggest you contact DOSM directly. These are part of the categories that are excluded from the Core inflation index, but these aren’t itemised in the technical notes to the inflation report.
4. MIDA are the approving agency, but because of the nebulous nature of FDI, it’s actually a lot harder to track than people think (because of retained earnings). Best suggestion I can make is to check with UNCTAD:
7. I’ve no idea. Again something to ask DOSM. I suspect it’s possible to construct such from the underlying survey data, and the introduction of state level GDP statistics strongly suggests they exist.
8. Can you tell me exactly which data they are talking about?
DUH ! Malaysia Government offices are not in the habit of releasing data, because they have none. We have learned about cooking books from Najib’s financial escapades. The Ministry of Finance will not release data to just anyone, and that alone makes any economic data suspect. Get of your bums, and go around Malaysia interviewing people, from Perlis to Johor and that is how you will get a better sense of the real economy.
And next the ambassador will tell us that the appointment of the new Supreme Patriarch reflects the Buddhist virtues of the gentleman who appointed him . . .
EGAT files lawsuits against people opposing its power plants
Tue, 14/03/2017
On 13 March 2017, Pranee Tangseri, assistant head of EGAT’s legal office, revealed that EGAT filed 15 complaints to the police against people posting social media content accusing that its power plants are sources of pollution, which leads to sickness and deaths.
The agency accused them of violating Article 326 of the Criminal Code, the law against criminal defamation, and Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, the law against importation of false computer content.
The EGAT legal office staff said that well-intended criticisms are acceptable, but she will not accept false accusations.
Protest against Koh Tao verdict closes Thai embassy
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
A nationalist protest outside the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon went ahead as planned Monday, as demonstrators prayed for the release of two Myanmar migrant workers sentenced to death in Thailand.
The consular section of the embassy was briefly closed by the protest, blocking several Myanmar citizens seeking visas to work in Thailand.
Activist Charged for Sarcastic Facebook Poll Mocking Prayuth
March 13, 2017
A parody poll on Facebook about junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha prompted police to charge a transparency activist Sunday with violating the Computer Crime Act.
Veera Somkwamkid, a former leader of the Yellowshirt movement and vocal critic of the military regime, said he will turn himself in on Wednesday over the poll, which asked users to choose which was true: seven rosy promises from a song written by Prayuth or “none of the above.”
Human rights lawyer wins Somchai Neelapaijit Award
Tue, 14/03/2017
Pawinee Chumsri, a lawyer at Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, has won the 2017 Somchai Neelapaijit Award. Pawinee urged society to action, saying that, ‘If people don’t fight, lawyers really can’t achieve anything’.
On 13 March 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen rejected a 700,000 baht bail bid by Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).
It was the seventh time that Jatuphat’s family had asked the court to free the activist to no avail.
Grow organic soybean instead of rice. Using soybean produce variety of dry healthy food. Please find many food machines. Soybean can be made more than hundreds kinds of healthy eg. dry bean curd.
You are a respected economist. I am finishing my Phd in economics (impact of price increases on households, using SAM data)
I like your comments. I like you to help me find some answers to the following:
1. how many items are taken into account in making the CPI?
2. how many of the above items are controlled or don’t allow for variation? how many of the items are ‘special’ items – eg if ordinary flour or oil is taken into account and not fortified flour or oil?
3. what is the percentage of the products that are invariant to price change against total products or services considered?
4. why is MIDA giving only FDI applications and approvals and not actual FDI? Where can I get the data for actual FDI? Can I get it by SITC code, if so how many digit level?
5. can you explain why the recent national I-O tables do not balance?
6. your references are all based on articles coming from America. Are you saying that if there is a variance between recorded and ‘felt’ inflation in America then the same is the case in Malaysia?
7. you have national I-O tables. but do all states have state-level I-O tables?
8. in my research I have interview state development agencies (UPEN) and many of these UPEN officials have questioned why their data is not corroborated by national data. Have you done a similar study? Are these officials lying, am I lying or should be ignore these questions for some reason you can think of?
And PitBull just played Bangkok, Jon Fernquest. While Mor Lum music reigns supreme in Isaarn, and it’s’ diaspora. Few things better illustrate how Isaarn and America’s stupid celeb culture “Thailand” are almost two completely different countries.
Given the role played by the Roman Catholic Church in colonial Vietnam and its collaboration with the US military during the war of national liberation that cost 3 million Vietnamese lives, I would question the motivation of any human rights activist who operates as a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
According to some accounts, the primary role of the RC church in Vietnam today is retrieving the lands it once held as the largest landholder in Vietnam.
This is obviously an improvement over the days when priests led “pacification teams” to put down peasant revolts (can you say “death squads?}, but it is not all that likely that any government in Vietnam will soon be ready to trust these people.
Memories of President Diem and the notorious “Tiger Cages” his Catholic regime used to torture and detain Vietnamese loyalists aside, I am sure we would all agree that the brutality this man suffered at the hands of the Vietnamese government was just awful.
What is you argument defending economic “authorities” in Malaysia when the numbers for cash borrowed or stolen by the Prime Minister can’t be totally quantified. In other words, you believe World Bank and Malaysian Government economic statistics, even when no one trusts the Prime Minister. That is irrational and has no basis. I suppose you also believe North Korean economic statistics. This is not “cooking up a great story”, as several Malaysian economists also question the numbers. Have you asked how much money the last few Prime Ministers have spent on overseas real estate, money squandered that could have gone towards education, public health and poverty reduction. The “cooked numbers” are those that are spun by the Malaysian Government agencies that have no clue what money they have and have no clue what money outside the nation they should have. In this environment, all the economic analyses of Malaysia will not matter-it does not reflect the truth. Therefore, the conclusions regarding Malaysia’s economic vitality have no basis in fact. What does speak volumes are the increasing number of Malaysians leaving home for Australia and it is not for the sandy beaches.
That my friend is really rhetorical writing. If you look at the details – that the Malaysian govt and A-licking analysts want you to ignore – you will find that unemployed graduates in Malaysia consist of only one major racial group. Chinese malaysians and Indian malaysians have no problem what-so-ever in landing a job within a couple of months after graduation.
In actual fact, employers are desparate for graduate staff, but the superior race are producing inferior graduates who are in most parts unemployable. Unless the Govt acknowledges this simple fact, the problem can never be solved.
MB has every right to criticize Najib but he must do so based on statistical evidence which is blatantly lacking in his articles. It also undermines his credibility as an economist and I am afraid even the integrity of New Mandala would also be affected with irresponsible writings as such. The fact that Najib is embroiled in one scandal after another does not give MB the license to cook up a ‘great story’. Otherwise, in what way is he different from a propagandist on someone’s payroll?
Now that his points are being disputed and refuted, MB is conspicuous by his silence and absence. Dodging a debate like Najib, no?
There is a father in Ulaan Bator, Mongolia, still crying over the murder of his daughter by acolytes of Prime Minister Najib. One of those acolytes lives in London as if nothing has happened and is collecting new girlfriends. Malaysia has laundered North Korean money and machinery since Mahathir was PM, and everyone acts like it’s a novel discovery. Malaysian until recently could travel to Pyongyang without a visa and tour the concentration camps where Kim Jong Un has jailed 500,000 people. Malaysia claims an Indonesian villager killed Kim’s brother which is patently absurd and that VX gas was used at KLIA in the murder. If the VX gas was Malaysian in origin, what was it doing at KLIA ? If the VX gas was North Korean, how was it transported aboard a commercial flight to Malaysia ? Malaysia has had trouble before in forensic matters (Anwar Ibrahim’s dual trials) and I highly doubt VX gas was involved in this purported murder. No autopsy and no toxicology test because North Korea will not allow it. A nation with a Prime Minister who wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the ass, does not inspire confidence in any respect.
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Playing Malaysia’s number game
Greg,
To be fair to MB, this site doesn’t notify authors if and when there are comments to their articles. They have to check manually. I learned that the hard way. He might have no idea.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
Hi Andrew,
1. For the Malaysian CPI, the latest revision includes 530 items.
2. & 3. I suggest you contact DOSM directly. These are part of the categories that are excluded from the Core inflation index, but these aren’t itemised in the technical notes to the inflation report.
4. MIDA are the approving agency, but because of the nebulous nature of FDI, it’s actually a lot harder to track than people think (because of retained earnings). Best suggestion I can make is to check with UNCTAD:
http://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/ReportFolders/reportFolders.aspx?IF_ActivePath=P,5&sCS_ChosenLang=en
5. No. You’re one up on me, I never studied I/O tables at any level. My specialisation was/is monetary economics.
6. No, I used that as an example of an empirical truism – inflation is perceived to be higher than CPI everywhere. Here’s one from the UK’s ONS:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/prices/cpi-and-rpi/perceptions-of-consumer-price-inflation.pdf
This OECD study has some interesting insights in the intro:
http://www.oecd.org/std/leading-indicators/35640665.pdf
Poland:
https://www.nbp.pl/publikacje/materialy_i_studia/160_en.pdf
and Europe:
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/41926/1/513656685.pdf
7. I’ve no idea. Again something to ask DOSM. I suspect it’s possible to construct such from the underlying survey data, and the introduction of state level GDP statistics strongly suggests they exist.
8. Can you tell me exactly which data they are talking about?
Playing Malaysia’s number game
DUH ! Malaysia Government offices are not in the habit of releasing data, because they have none. We have learned about cooking books from Najib’s financial escapades. The Ministry of Finance will not release data to just anyone, and that alone makes any economic data suspect. Get of your bums, and go around Malaysia interviewing people, from Perlis to Johor and that is how you will get a better sense of the real economy.
Royal Thai Embassay clarifies Wat Dhammakaya case
And next the ambassador will tell us that the appointment of the new Supreme Patriarch reflects the Buddhist virtues of the gentleman who appointed him . . .
Nuclear sufficiency
EGAT files lawsuits against people opposing its power plants
Tue, 14/03/2017
On 13 March 2017, Pranee Tangseri, assistant head of EGAT’s legal office, revealed that EGAT filed 15 complaints to the police against people posting social media content accusing that its power plants are sources of pollution, which leads to sickness and deaths.
The agency accused them of violating Article 326 of the Criminal Code, the law against criminal defamation, and Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, the law against importation of false computer content.
The EGAT legal office staff said that well-intended criticisms are acceptable, but she will not accept false accusations.
http://prachatai.org/english/node/7002
Koh Tao trial another litmus test
Protest against Koh Tao verdict closes Thai embassy
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
A nationalist protest outside the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon went ahead as planned Monday, as demonstrators prayed for the release of two Myanmar migrant workers sentenced to death in Thailand.
The consular section of the embassy was briefly closed by the protest, blocking several Myanmar citizens seeking visas to work in Thailand.
http://frontiermyanmar.net/en/protest-against-koh-tao-verdict-closes-thai-embassy
Sovereignty and brinksmanship
Activist Charged for Sarcastic Facebook Poll Mocking Prayuth
March 13, 2017
A parody poll on Facebook about junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha prompted police to charge a transparency activist Sunday with violating the Computer Crime Act.
Veera Somkwamkid, a former leader of the Yellowshirt movement and vocal critic of the military regime, said he will turn himself in on Wednesday over the poll, which asked users to choose which was true: seven rosy promises from a song written by Prayuth or “none of the above.”
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2017/03/13/activist-charged-sarcastic-facebook-poll-mocking-prayuth/
Somchai Neelapaichit missing for seven years
Human rights lawyer wins Somchai Neelapaijit Award
Tue, 14/03/2017
Pawinee Chumsri, a lawyer at Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, has won the 2017 Somchai Neelapaijit Award. Pawinee urged society to action, saying that, ‘If people don’t fight, lawyers really can’t achieve anything’.
http://prachatai.org/english/node/6999
Lèse-majesté today
Tue, 14/03/2017
‘Pai Dao Din’ denied bail again
On 13 March 2017, the Provincial Court of Khon Kaen rejected a 700,000 baht bail bid by Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).
It was the seventh time that Jatuphat’s family had asked the court to free the activist to no avail.
http://prachatai.org/english/node/6998
Why Cambodia’s rice industry needs a new strategy
Grow organic soybean instead of rice. Using soybean produce variety of dry healthy food. Please find many food machines. Soybean can be made more than hundreds kinds of healthy eg. dry bean curd.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
Mr Nurhisham,
You are a respected economist. I am finishing my Phd in economics (impact of price increases on households, using SAM data)
I like your comments. I like you to help me find some answers to the following:
1. how many items are taken into account in making the CPI?
2. how many of the above items are controlled or don’t allow for variation? how many of the items are ‘special’ items – eg if ordinary flour or oil is taken into account and not fortified flour or oil?
3. what is the percentage of the products that are invariant to price change against total products or services considered?
4. why is MIDA giving only FDI applications and approvals and not actual FDI? Where can I get the data for actual FDI? Can I get it by SITC code, if so how many digit level?
5. can you explain why the recent national I-O tables do not balance?
6. your references are all based on articles coming from America. Are you saying that if there is a variance between recorded and ‘felt’ inflation in America then the same is the case in Malaysia?
7. you have national I-O tables. but do all states have state-level I-O tables?
8. in my research I have interview state development agencies (UPEN) and many of these UPEN officials have questioned why their data is not corroborated by national data. Have you done a similar study? Are these officials lying, am I lying or should be ignore these questions for some reason you can think of?
Risk, gossip and retribution in Thailand
And PitBull just played Bangkok, Jon Fernquest. While Mor Lum music reigns supreme in Isaarn, and it’s’ diaspora. Few things better illustrate how Isaarn and America’s stupid celeb culture “Thailand” are almost two completely different countries.
“A prison within a prison within a prison”
Given the role played by the Roman Catholic Church in colonial Vietnam and its collaboration with the US military during the war of national liberation that cost 3 million Vietnamese lives, I would question the motivation of any human rights activist who operates as a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
According to some accounts, the primary role of the RC church in Vietnam today is retrieving the lands it once held as the largest landholder in Vietnam.
This is obviously an improvement over the days when priests led “pacification teams” to put down peasant revolts (can you say “death squads?}, but it is not all that likely that any government in Vietnam will soon be ready to trust these people.
Memories of President Diem and the notorious “Tiger Cages” his Catholic regime used to torture and detain Vietnamese loyalists aside, I am sure we would all agree that the brutality this man suffered at the hands of the Vietnamese government was just awful.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
By 1911, up to 90% of the Aborigines were exterminated. In 2017, Australia remains one of the richest countries in the world.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
Playing Malaysia’s number game
You may as well question the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. Trust your own hatred instead.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
What is you argument defending economic “authorities” in Malaysia when the numbers for cash borrowed or stolen by the Prime Minister can’t be totally quantified. In other words, you believe World Bank and Malaysian Government economic statistics, even when no one trusts the Prime Minister. That is irrational and has no basis. I suppose you also believe North Korean economic statistics. This is not “cooking up a great story”, as several Malaysian economists also question the numbers. Have you asked how much money the last few Prime Ministers have spent on overseas real estate, money squandered that could have gone towards education, public health and poverty reduction. The “cooked numbers” are those that are spun by the Malaysian Government agencies that have no clue what money they have and have no clue what money outside the nation they should have. In this environment, all the economic analyses of Malaysia will not matter-it does not reflect the truth. Therefore, the conclusions regarding Malaysia’s economic vitality have no basis in fact. What does speak volumes are the increasing number of Malaysians leaving home for Australia and it is not for the sandy beaches.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
That my friend is really rhetorical writing. If you look at the details – that the Malaysian govt and A-licking analysts want you to ignore – you will find that unemployed graduates in Malaysia consist of only one major racial group. Chinese malaysians and Indian malaysians have no problem what-so-ever in landing a job within a couple of months after graduation.
In actual fact, employers are desparate for graduate staff, but the superior race are producing inferior graduates who are in most parts unemployable. Unless the Govt acknowledges this simple fact, the problem can never be solved.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
MB has every right to criticize Najib but he must do so based on statistical evidence which is blatantly lacking in his articles. It also undermines his credibility as an economist and I am afraid even the integrity of New Mandala would also be affected with irresponsible writings as such. The fact that Najib is embroiled in one scandal after another does not give MB the license to cook up a ‘great story’. Otherwise, in what way is he different from a propagandist on someone’s payroll?
Now that his points are being disputed and refuted, MB is conspicuous by his silence and absence. Dodging a debate like Najib, no?
Risk, gossip and retribution in Thailand
What next ? Caligula’s horse ? All A Hard Days Night.
Playing Malaysia’s number game
There is a father in Ulaan Bator, Mongolia, still crying over the murder of his daughter by acolytes of Prime Minister Najib. One of those acolytes lives in London as if nothing has happened and is collecting new girlfriends. Malaysia has laundered North Korean money and machinery since Mahathir was PM, and everyone acts like it’s a novel discovery. Malaysian until recently could travel to Pyongyang without a visa and tour the concentration camps where Kim Jong Un has jailed 500,000 people. Malaysia claims an Indonesian villager killed Kim’s brother which is patently absurd and that VX gas was used at KLIA in the murder. If the VX gas was Malaysian in origin, what was it doing at KLIA ? If the VX gas was North Korean, how was it transported aboard a commercial flight to Malaysia ? Malaysia has had trouble before in forensic matters (Anwar Ibrahim’s dual trials) and I highly doubt VX gas was involved in this purported murder. No autopsy and no toxicology test because North Korea will not allow it. A nation with a Prime Minister who wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the ass, does not inspire confidence in any respect.