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Consumer, Investor confidence down

By Joe Fernandez
KOTA KINABALU : We were earlier at CentrePoint Sabah after church.

One IT shopowner came running towards us. He opened a 2nd outlet at the complex in Jan. He opened an outlet in Megalong last year. It's still losing every month.

He complained that business at CPS, including his, was down 40 per cent in May compared with Jan. He won't make even RM 4, 000 this month to cover the rental at the 2nd CPS outlet. His workers here are down to two from three previously.

The number of workers at his first CPS outlet is down by two to three. For the first time, he's not sure the outlet can break even this month.


He plans to close down the Megalong outlet by the end of this year if there's no improvement in the sales.

He doesn't think the minimum wage from Jan next year will help improve sales.

It's not enough for the Government to declare a minimum wage. It should also adopt 1Country 1 Price as a policy.

CPS is a barometer of consumer confidence in KK and Sabah.

Obviously, the steep oil price increases of recent months has played havoc with the economy. Food and transportation are up and people are prioratising their budgets. This means less money for IT and other items which can wait.

It's a double-edged price situation.

When oil prices on the spot market move up, consumer prices of perishables and transportation costs move up immediately although the actual oil price component which is related is that of two years ago.

Conversely, when oil prices move south as now, consumer prices don't follow suit. This is especially true of food and transportation. So, other sectors of the consumer economy suffer.

This means nothing is being done about profiteering. The private sector itself should adopt better business practices as a culture. It will only be doing itself in if it kills consumer and investor confidence.

Another factor is that visitor arrivals are down because of cutbacks by Air Asia following its colloborative agreement with MAS. Khazanah has since ended the MAS colloboration with Air Asia but the latter airline is yet to resume operating at its former levels despite the advent of Air Asia Philippines and Air Asia Japan.

Visitor arrivals are down at a time when the number of hotel rooms and shopping complexes in Sabah are increasing dramatically.

The Gov't needs to cushion the oil shocks to the economy by building a strategic petroleum reserve and build more refineries. There should be at least one each in Sabah and Labuan and another in Sarawak.

It should start buying for the local reserve as the price moves up and start selling when the market is topped.

For example, if the bottom price was US$ 75 per barrel and the top price at $140 per barrel, that bought at the bottom price should be sold at the top price. As both extremes meet, the equilibrium will be met.

There will be a political fallout in the urban and suburban areas in Sabah if consumer and investor confidence does not pick up by the 13th GE.

This does not mean the people will vote for the Opposition who are simply a pale imitation of the BN judging from their hare-brained ideas. No party can come out with better bullshit than Umno's High Income Agenda. It will be the magical phrase to cover a multitude of sins like Mahathir's Malaysia Boleh.

All this simply means that either the voters will stay at home, spoil their votes or vote against the incumbent party.

If the Opposition wins any seats, it will be by default.

If consumer and investor confidence picks up as expected by the 13th GE, how will the Opposition in Sabah sell itself to the electorate by immitating the BN?

We no longer hear about the Borneo rights flogged by activists not so long ago. Perhaps they are convinced it's all spin and bullshit.

We no longer hear about reformasi flogged by Anwar Ibrahim.

The de facto PKR Chief has suddenly realised that "many people" don't want an end to corruption or AliBabaism -- erroneously thinking that's their ticket to instant wealth if they stand in Q -- they don't want to end the deviations and distortions in the implementation of Article 153, they are not convinced that Federalism and the Doctrine of Separation of Powers will be good for them and they think it's good for them to not to repay PTPTN loans, and they think it's good for them -- "to hell with others" -- to sapu bersih the civil, teaching and diplomatic service, the police, Armed Forces, the Judiciary, the GLCs and even cendol licences and above all they think it's good to use the Syariah Court to snatch bodies.

Mahathir has pledged to be racist as possible in the run-up to the 13th GE and Anwar has already be cowed by the threat.

Only Hindraf Makkal Sakthi, Dap and Pas, all in Peninsular Malaysia, are sticking to their guns on change and reform.

Bankruptcy will eventually bring the nation to its senses and bury the current political system and system of parties -- along with the spinmasters, bullshitters, traitors, proxies & stooges -- for good.

The purpose of all politics is to re-distribute power and resources.

That's not happening.

The purpose of politicisation of issues is to create new constitutional conventions and to pressure the government of the day to get its act together via administrative law or risk the people's wrath at the ballot box.

That's not happening because the politicisation of issues has come to a grinding halt on the grounds that "it's all spin and bullshit" and besides "it's important not to sour relations -- whatever that means -- with other political parties".

Non-politicisation is the stand being taken by people who not so long ago flogged Borneo Rights as the Gospel Truth. Suddenly, they have turned tail and are even willing to publicly embrace known sycophants.

Obviously, they belabour under the delusion that some nice things will happen to them some day with no effort on their part.

37 comments:

  1. Macam teruk ekonomi kita sekarang oo.. Susah kalau berterusan macam ni.

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    Replies
    1. moga ekonomi kita dpt stabil semula.

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    2. pasti ada jalan penyelesaiannya, sedangkan krisis kewangan 1997/1998 negara dapat hadapinya.

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    3. It is a globalise impact.

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    4. tapi lebih baik berbanding sebelum ini..

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  2. Klaau setakat berniaga kecil-kecilan, konpom bankrupt. Kesian..

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    Replies
    1. Yang besar2an pun lagilah besar risiko kerugian.

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  3. Centre point and Megalong are not exactly the best place to do IT business. For one, Centre point main client base are illegals and foreign workers, how are you going to sell computers to them? Megalong is not exactly a consumer concentrated area either. If you want to do IT business, I think the best place now is Karamunsing, because that is where everyone will go for their IT needs, however you might have to deal with lots of competitors. No one said its easy to do business.

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    Replies
    1. pelanggan2 bagi perniagaan IT selalunya adalah golongan pelajar, seharusnya cari kawasan yng menjadi tumpuan pada pelajar.

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    2. Mungkin boleh cari kawasan yang berdekatan dengan kediaman pelajar, sekolah, kolej atau universiti. apapun, khidmat terbaik tu yang akan jadi penentu.

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    3. Agree. Better to have a place where it gathers all the IT shops. CP equals to Centre of Pilak already. Don't feel like going there.

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    4. Tubuhkan IT mall. Inijuga memudahkan para pelajar mendapat kepreluan masing-masing dan boleh juga mendekati teknologi.

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    5. ya...karamunsing lebih baik berbanding dengan CP..

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    6. Betul tu, kalau saya nak beli komputer pun akan pilih Karamunsing juga. Semua perniagaan IT tertumpu kat situ dan senang kita buat perbandingan harga/model.

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    7. memang selalunya orang akan pergi ke kompleks Karamunsing utk cari barangan IT.

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  4. Computer business is difficult to survive, your stock will depreciate within one to two weeks, if you can't get your stock out fast enough, you are sure to lose money.

    If possible, don't stock too much goods in your shop, have an agreement with your supplier, if your customer needs a product, ensure your supplier can deliver the product. That way you won't have to lose too much when the stock depreciate. If you work in the IT sector for long, surely you know these rule of thumb already.

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  5. Well we are running out of $$$....how to survive?

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    Replies
    1. Our expenses is more than what we earn. And the situation get worse if we have stingy bosses. But those who works in the govt untunglah..

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  6. Do something before it is too late.

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  7. Ekonomi mungkin kurang stabil, tapi para peniaga harus lah kreatif dalamn mencipta peluang. Pasti ada untung juga tu.

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    Replies
    1. Peluang, rezeki ada di mana2.

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    2. Rakyat sendiri harus mencari peluang. banyak kempen pembangunan dijalankan, jangan mensia-siakan usaha kerajaan terhadap rakyat khas belia.

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    3. Memang bukan senang nak membuka perniagaan, ada yang boleh berjaya ada yang tidak. Tapi terpulanglah kepada innovasi dan daya persaingan setiap peniaga.

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  8. Semoga keadaan ekonomi akan bertambah baik bagi membolehkan rakyat hidup selesa tanpa dihimpit dengan masalah kewangan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kalau macam ni tiada naik gaji pun susahlah..

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    2. Perdana Menteri kita dah luluskan polis gaji minima, sekurang-kurangnya mereka yang mendapat gaji kurang daripada RM800 akan mendapat kenaikan gaji yang singifikan tidak lama lagi.

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  9. Hal ini harus diberi perhatian sewajarnya bagi memastikan keadaan ekonomi bertambah teruk.

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  10. Kerajaan harus berusaha membaiki ekonomi. Keseimbangan juga harus diusahakan.

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    Replies
    1. jika semua diuruskan dengan baik dan cekap, pasti sebarang kesulitan dapat diatasi.

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  11. Economy is bad, the people also hardly to spend.

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  12. Semua itu perlu diurus dengan baik bagi memastikan ekonomi akan terus stabil dengan baik.

    ReplyDelete
  13. rasanya perlu berikan tumpuan barangan IT di satu kawasan seperti di Karamunsing itu. Ini barulah satu rancangan yang baik.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. setuju, selalunya mereka yang ingin mencari barangan IT akan ke Karamunsing.

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  14. peniaga perlu bijak memasarkan barangan mereka.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yup.. kalau perniagaan jatuh, jangan salahkan mana2 pihak.. salahkan diri sendiri kerana gagal bersaing dengan peniaga2 yang lain..

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  15. harap ini akan diuruskan dengan sebaiknya bagi memastikan semuanya ok.

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  16. senang2 dia salahkan kerajaan bila tidak dapat sales.. macam dia sorang saja buat bisnes tu.. dia faham ka istilah persaingan? kalau tidak sanggup menanggung kerugian, baik jangan berniaga..

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