PINTAR SOROS DI LABUAN

Sumber: FEER (Far Eastern Economic Review)

Tarikh: 5/10/2000
Tajuk: INTELLIGENCE
URL: http://www.feer.com/_0010_05/p10.html

Saya terjemah bahagian berkaitan Malaysia sahaja:

Soros Ambil Kesempatan Sepenuhnya dari Malaysia

Dia mungkin dipanggil "moron" oleh PM Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, tetapi George Soros tahu juga sedikit sebanyak mengenai undang-undang percukaian -- Undang-undang Cukai Malaysia - untuk lebih tepat.

Pakar kewangan dunia yang terkenal itu telah menggunakan syurga kewangan pesisir Labuan itu untuk mendaftarkan syarikat2 pelaburan induk beliau untuk mengelakkan undang-undang percukaian. Ia tidak salah, tetapi dengan menggunakan Labuan, Soros tidak perlu membayar cukai kepada Malaysia dan seterusnya mengelak hampir semua dalam 45 negara yang mempunyai perjanjian cukai dengan Malaysia.

Adalah sukar untuk membuat anggaran berapa banyak wang itu disalurkan melalui Labuan, tetapi tidak sukar untuk mengagak kemana wang itu di hantar. Dua daripada empat dana Soros di Labuan iaitu Dana Quantum Emerging Markets dan Dana QE International fund -- mempunyai capaian global. Tetapi dua yang lain, iaitu Soros Capital Indonesia dan Soros Korea Advisers -- kelihatan lebih khusus, jika dipandang dari segi nama mereka yang terukir itu.

Malaysia untuk Mengambilalih Pusat Bandar Baru

Kerajaan Malaysia bercadang untuk memberi taraf Wilayah Persekutuan kepada bandara pentadbiran baru, iaitu Putrajaya. Peralihan itu akan mengambil 4,500 hektar bandar itu dari bidang kuasa negeri Selangor, dimana ia pada awalnya terletak, supaya ia berada terus di bawah bidang kuasa kerajaan persekutuan.

Rancangan itu selari dengan kehendak PM, Mahathir Mohamad, kerana projek Putrajaya yang bermula sejak 1996 itu adalah salah satu dari projek manja didik beliau.

Tidak diketahui dengan jelas berapakah Kuala lumpur perlu membayar kepada Kerajaan Negeri Selangor sebagai pampasan ganti rugi, tetapi ia mungkin mencecah lebih 2000 juta ringgit (AS$53 juta), mengikut deorang pegawai.

Pembinaan bandar baru itu dijangka siap sepenuhnya menjelang 2010, dan dianggar menelan kos 20 billion ringgit. Ia akan mengandungi mahligai untuk SUltan Selangor, ruang pejabat, pejabat kedutaan, rumah kediaman dan perkhidmatan. Kuala Lumpur dan Labuan juga mendapat status Wilayah Persekutuan.

Rencana Asal:

WTO Cost: 40 Million Jobs

A report by investment bank Salomon Smith Barney predicts that about 40 million people will lose their jobs in the first five years after China enters the World Trade Organization. The losses would be caused by economic restructuring resulting from WTO membership. Of the total, the report says, between 5 million and 10 million are likely to be farmers who leave agriculture; another 10 million jobs will go in the state sector, and 20 million are likely to be lost in the nonstate sector, which includes private and collective enterprises. The good news in the September 21 report, China & the WTO--What Will It Mean for The Economy?, is that GDP growth in the same period could increase by between 0.5 and 2 percentage points annually.

Malaysia to Take Over New Capital

The Malaysian government plans to give Federal Territory status to its new administrative capital, Putrajaya. The shift will take the 4,500-hectare city out of the jurisdiction of Selangor state, where it is located, and bring it directly under the purview of the federal government. The plan underlines the interest of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in what has been one of his pet projects since construction of Putrajaya began in 1996. It isn't clear how much Kuala Lumpur will have to pay Selangor's state government in compensation, but it could be over 200 million ringgit ($53 million), according to a senior official. The construction of the capital, which will be fully developed by 2010, is expected to cost 20 billion ringgit. It will include a palace for the Sultan of Selangor, offices, embassies, residential areas and services. Kuala Lumpur and offshore financial centre Labuan also have Federal Territory status.

Indonesia Seeks Israeli Defence Help

Jakarta has been negotiating a barter deal with Israel under which Tel Aviv would refurbish air-force McDonnell Douglas C-130 cargo planes and supply electronic surveillance drones and radar to watch over the country's sea-lanes. Jakarta would provide agricultural products in return. People familiar with the deal say its origins go back to a little-known meeting in Jakarta last April between Efren Sneid, Israeli defence vice-minister, and President Abdurrahman Wahid. Indonesia's Defence Ministry subsequently sent three senior officers to Israel to flesh out the arrangements, but progress has been slow because of Jakarta's difficulties in getting state enterprises to provide delivery of coffee, palm oil and other agricultural products to Israel. There are also now questions about whether new Indonesian Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmudin will allow the deal to go ahead at all, given his ties to the Muslim-oriented United Development Party, which is opposed to all contacts with Israel. Israeli-supplied Singaporean surveillance drones were used during a hostage drama in Irian Jaya in the mid-1990s.

Estrada on Technology Offensive

The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry is trying to convince foreign hi-tech companies to keep investing in the country's burgeoning IT export sector, despite this year's flood of headlines about tourist kidnappings and Muslim rebels. The department has fielded a number of inquiries in the past month about setting up operations to handle legal and medical transcription services, says Assistant Secretary Toby Monsod. Now it's planning several road shows in coming months to plug the country's IT industry in Japan, Australia, Europe and South Korea. Nothing so far has come from a visit in July by President Joseph Estrada to Silicon Valley, although the trip did generate "a number of investment leads," says Monsod. "We've been talking very closely with Oracle, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems," about possible investment in software development or incubation centres, she says. "It's quite encouraging, actually."

Samsung Under Scrutiny

Once high-flying Samsung Electronics has had a rough trot of late. Its share price has dived, due partly to a global decline in tech stocks but also to rising concerns about the company's lack of transparency, for which management may soon find itself on the mat. Seoul's Maeil Business Newspaper reported on September 26 that a group of investors led by the huge American fund Capital Group will hit town in early November to grill executives on recent transactions which they don't consider to be in the best interests of shareholders. One example: Samsung Electronics spent 100 billion won ($89 million) to buy 2 million shares in Samsung Electro-Mechanics, or Semco, in a deal critics say was done to revive Semco's drooping share price. The newspaper reported that Capital, one of Samsung Electronics' largest shareholders, will be accompanied by 31 investors seeking reassurances about transparency problems at Samsung Electronics and other affiliates. A Samsung Electronics spokesman couldn't confirm the visit, but said that if one was scheduled it was merely routine.

Familiar Face at Bangkok Embassy

The Australian government is returning one of its most seasoned Southeast Asian hands to the region as ambassador to Thailand at the end of the year, according to Australian diplomats. Miles Kupa will replace William Fisher, who returns to Canberra. Kupa was the embassy's minister, or No. 2, in the mid-1980s, before being appointed ambassador to Iraq. He then served as No. 2 in the Australian embassy in Indonesia before becoming ambassador to the Philippines. He got the Manila posting after the Indonesian government, then under President Suharto, turned him down for allegedly sending cables to Canberra that criticized the Suharto regime. In the light of subsequent events, his reported comments were prescient.

Soros Makes the Most of Malaysia

He may have been called a "moron" by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, but George Soros knows a thing or two about tax laws--Malaysian tax laws, to be exact. The world's most famous financier has been using Malaysia's offshore financial centre in Labuan to register investment holding companies and dodge tax laws. Nothing illegal, but by using Labuan, Soros pays no taxes in Malaysia and mostly escapes them in the 45 countries with which Malaysia has tax treaties. It's hard to say how much money Soros has channelled through Labuan, but it's not hard to guess where the money is headed. Two of the four Soros funds in Labuan--Quantum Emerging Markets fund and QE International fund--have a global reach. But two others--Soros Capital Indonesia and Soros Korea Advisers--appear to be more specific, judging by their names.

No Visa Needed for North Koreans

Malaysia and North Korea are limbering up for closer trade ties with a visa-free entry programme that started on September 17. Under the scheme, nationals of both countries travelling for business, sports or vacation can stay for up to a month in the other country without prior application for a visa. According to representatives of the Korean International Travel Co., national carrier Air Koryo is looking to arrange flights into Kuala Lumpur now that the deal is in place. Malaysia established diplomatic ties with North Korea in 1973 but doesn't maintain a mission in Pyongyang; it hopes the agreement will facilitate visits from North Koreans, who previously had to travel to Beijing to get a visa. It's also looking to further boost trade, which more than tripled to $7.8 million last year. Malaysia's main exports to North Korea are palm oil and natural rubber; its main imports are chemicals and non-alloy steel.