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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (1568)	1/25/1998 7:18:00 PM
From: Stitch	Respond to of 9980

Thomas et al, Yes, the super bowl is on ESPN in Malaysia but I am not a big football fan. I have tuned it in , but it runs the background as I perform other morning chores. From this morning's "New Straits Times" the following article (excerpted): US Envoy: Malaysia will be fastest to regain foreign investor confidence KUALA LUMPUR, Sun - The United States sees Malaysia as the country in Asia that will be fastest to regain foreign investor confidence following the region's currency problems, U.S. Ambassador John R. Mallott said today. He said foreign investors, "especially Americans" were now beginning to "come back to malaysia in large numbers". "In all of Asia, Malaysia is one of the better run economies. Malaysia is doing well in terms of restoring investor confidence with the steps that are being taken. The U.S. has a lot of confidence in Malaysia and its future" He said this was especially true as investors and analysts were starting to be able to sort out and understand the situations in respective countries whereas, "when the crisis first hit, the contagion effect was that foreign investors, whether in London or New York, didnt quite know what the differences were." Mallott went on to point out the existence of political stability in Malaysia, where he said "in some ways Malysia was more politically stable then even the U.S. where the President is a Democrat, and the congress is controlled by the Republican Party." "All business people like stability" he added. He also pointed out that Malaysia was nowhere near comparable to South Korea and Indonesia where corporate debt turned out to be twice what was originally reported to IMF officials, thus "in effect, cheating foreign investors" Interestingly he cited government connections to business as one of the mistakes made in Asia. "I think one of the lessons in Asia has been that political connections have mattered far more then good management or business confidence. I think a lesson for the future is that companies are going to have to show far more clearly that they are well managed and that they cannot be as dependent on Governments or political connections for their success". This is a fairly interesting interview in that during all that howling and anti-Western remarks from Mahatir the Ambassador was notably silent. As reported in another of my posts, Mahatir's public remarks , and those of others as well, have been remarkably toned down of late. My guess is that there has been a behind the scenes meeting of the minds, and I suspect that Mallott's confidential remarks and diplomacy have served well. I have met him and have heard him speak. he is an impressive guy. By the way, I think his statements are sincere and I agree with his assesment that Malaysia is much further along to recovery then other countries, and that it's fundamentals are not truly reflective of today's exchange rate. But Mahatir did not help the cause much with his initial remarks virtually driving foreign investors out of the local market. Now that his remarks seem to be in check, maybe we can expect to see some recovery in the Ringiit and the local KLSE. My guess is that someone woke Mahatir up to the self destreuctive nature of his lack of diplomacy. I hope so. It was readily apparent to everyone else. IMHO toning down his remarks was an absolute imperative to start the trek to recovery here. Fierce combat with corruption and more accountability and transparency are, of course, sine qua non. Best, Stitch