My Miscellaneous Page

The Star, Sunday November 12, 2006

Week That Was

Compiled by Joseph Loh 

MODEL MURDERED: (Nov 6) The remains of 28-year-old Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was reported missing a month ago, was found scattered in some undergrowth in Puncak Alam, near Shah Alam. Police believe the woman, in her 30s, was shot, and her body blown up with C4 explosive. Three police personnel, including a chief inspector and a woman lance corporal, have been detained for questioning. Prominent political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was also remanded to assist police in their investigations.  

BANGSA MALAYSIA: (Nov 6) Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the implementation of a wrongly interpreted concept of Bangsa Malaysia will jeopardise the stability and Constitution of the country. He questioned the need for different races in the country to be ethnically diluted or mixed up (dileburkan untuk menjadi rojak) for a concept that was still hazy in meaning. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak later said Bangsa Malaysia was just a concept and had nothing to do with the Constitution or national policies, but was related to an individual’s state of mind. 

BAPTISM RUMOUR: (Nov 6) The police are investigating a rumour which spread through SMS, claiming that a group of Muslims were to be baptised at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Silibin, Ipoh, and national mariner Datuk Azhar Mansor was said to be involved. A large crowd gathered at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes to protest, but it turned out to be nothing more than the first Holy Communion for a group of Indian children. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi later said those who spread malicious rumours deserved severe punishment because their acts could create anger and reactions that could cause racial antagonism and tension in the country. 

ROAD ACCIDENTS INCREASE: (Nov 5) The recent Ops Sikap XI saw a 15% rise in road accidents compared with last year’s festive period.  

A total of 15,716 accidents were recorded during the 15-day operation over the Deepavali and Hari Raya holidays compared with 13,661 last year.  

NEWSPAPER SUSPENDED: (Nov 7) The Internal Security Ministry suspended the Weekend Mail for breaching guidelines and conditions under the Printing and Presses Act 1984 (Act 301). Ministry Secretary-General Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said reports and photographs in the paper’s Nov 4-5 issue focusing on sex and sexual issues were contrary to values practised by Malaysians. 

MAS EMERGENCY LANDING: (Nov 5) A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 with 284 passengers was forced to return to Sweden’s Arlanda airport and make an emergency landing when ground staff found bits of metal and insulation materials near the runway. The Kuala Lumpur-bound plane was instructed to return to the airport after an air traffic controller alerted the pilots.  

FOREIGN 

SADDAM TO HANG: (Nov 5) Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity. His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former judge Awad al-Bander were also sentenced to death for killing, torturing and deporting hundreds of people from the Shi’ite town of Dujail after Shi’ite gunmen tried to kill Saddam there in 1982. Former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan received a life term. Defence lawyers saw little hope from an appeal and dismissed it as “victor’s justice”. Saddam admitted ordering the execution of 148 men, justifying it as a wartime measure against Shi’ite allies of his enemy Iran.  

EUROPEAN BLACKOUT: (Nov 5) A massive power outage temporarily plunged millions of homes across western Europe into darkness and initial findings suggested a routine safety operation in Germany may have been to blame. The impact of the power cuts at around 2130 GMT on Saturday night was felt in heavily populated areas of Germany, France and Italy, as well as parts of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, and even extended as far as Morocco.  

THE CORRUPT WORLD: (Nov 6) Haiti, Myanmar, Iraq and Guinea are ranked as the most corrupt countries in the world in a survey conducted by Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International. It ranked 163 countries based on perceived levels of corruption among public officials and politicians in its 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index. Scoring the best marks were Finland, Iceland and New Zealand, with Denmark, Singapore and Sweden just behind. Malaysia fell five ranks to 44th place from 39th place last year. 

The Star, Monday November 13, 2006

Equity Ownership in the Corporate Sector

Methodology 

I. Sources of Data 

The following data sources were used to estimate equity ownership in Malaysia: 

i. Records from the annual reports of companies registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM); 

ii. Equity ownership of public listed companies in Bursa Malaysia Berhad;  

iii. Data from Bumiputera institutions such as Lembaga Tabung Haji, Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera and Cooperatives Development Department; 

iv. Data from Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), MARA and all SEDCs; 

v. Data from Securities Commission on Unit Trust Funds and related trust fund management companies such as PNB; and 

vi. Information on ownership in nominee companies based on a survey done in March 2005. 

II. Corporate Equity Ownership as at 31st December 2004 (Ref: Ninth Malaysia Plan, Chapter 16, Page 336). 

From the above, overall Bumiputera equity ownership as of 31st December is 18.9%.  

Calculation of Corporate Equity Ownership by Ethnic Groups based on Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM)’s Database 

· The main source of data to calculate equity ownership is derived from CCM. Among the information used from the annual reports of the companies in this methodology include type of companies and their activities, composition of equity ownership by ethnic groups and nationality.  

· As at 31st December 2004, a total of 609,595 active companies were registered with CCM. Equity ownership by ethnic group was calculated based on the latest annual reports submitted by the companies to CCM.  

· Only 40 percent of the registered companies submitted their annual returns by the dateline for the Ninth Malaysia Plam (30th June 2005). However, the total value of equity owned by this group of companies (40 percent of the registered companies) comprised 70 percent of the total equity ownership of all companies registered with CCM in 2004. The estimate for the remaining 60 percent of the registered companies was derived from their 2003 annual reports. Breakdown of shareholdings for companies which submitted their annual reports before 2004 and in 2004 are as follows: 

III. Par Value vs Market Capitalization 

· In calculating the equity ownership, par value was used as it provides a constant measurement to all companies in the corporate sector as compared to the market value, which can only be used on the listed companies.  

IV. Equity Ownership by Trust Agencies 

· The data on equity ownership in companies held by trust agencies was obtained directly from the agencies such as PNB, Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB), Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNS), MARA and SEDCs. 

· These agencies were established, amongst others, to assist Bumiputera participation in trade and industry. Breakdown for Bumiputera agencies are as follows: 

 

VI. Equity Ownership by Bumiputera Institutions  

· Institutions such as Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH), LTAT, Koperasi Polis and thrust funds such as Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) and Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) were established to mobilise savings held by Bumiputera. 

· The equity ownership in this category was obtained directly from the institutions involved. Breakdown for Bumiputera institutions are as follows: 

Note: Equity own by non-Bumiputera in PNB Unit Trust Scheme, ASM Mara Unit Trust and Cooperatives Development Department are as follows: 

Chinese RM 697.5 million
Indian RM 76.7 million
Others RM 8.6 million
 

 

VII. Equity Ownership by Nominee Companies 

· Nominee companies owned RM139,472.4 million or 25.9 percent of the total corporate equity in 2004. In March 2005, EPU with the cooperation of SSM conducted a survey on 359 nominee companies to ascertain the status of ownership and beneficiaries of shares registered under nominees.  

· A total of 179 companies that responded to this survey, owned RM103,713.2 million or 74.3 percent of the total equity held by nominee companies in 2004.  

· The composition of equity in the nominee companies by ethnic groups and others is as follows: 

VIII. Equity Ownership by the Government 

· The major portion of the government equity ownership is in the public listed government-linked-companies (GLCs). Equity held by Employees’ Providence Fund (KWSP), Khazanah Holdings and Minister of Finance Inc was considered as government interest. Shares held by the Government were excluded from the calculation. However, equity held by private companies and individuals in non-listed and listed GLCs such as Petronas, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, TNB and MAS was included in the calculation of equity held by the respective ethnic groups. This approach has been consistently used in all plan documents. 

IX. Equity of Listed Companies 

· The committee in EPU also calculated equity ownership in listed companies by ethnic group. Based on the calculation, as at December 2005, Bumiputera owned 21.8% or RM44.0 billion of the share capital in Bursa Malaysia Berhad. This figure is different from an earlier quoted figure of 36.64%. In estimating Bumiputera equity, the 36.64%, quoted as Bumiputera shares, included a large portion of shares held by nominee companies and the government.