Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I heard and read some bad business news for Malaysia.  Shares tumbled 9.5% on Monday after selling forces hour halt in trading for the first time.  Political turbulence in the country stirs policy worries.  Why?  Emergency elections held over the weekend resulted in the opposition party gaining strength and the country's ruling party suffering the its biggest setback ever.  Now the ruling party under the tutelage of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi shares power with the opposing party.  Of 13 states, the division is 7 to 6 in favor of the incumbents.  In the Parliament 120 seats versus 102 in favor of the incumbents.  Could get politically and economically dicey.

Carmine D. 

Malay market recovered 2.8 percent...........according to the Associated Press:

Malaysian opposition pledged to roll-back an affirmative-action program in five states where it won elections, setting in motion a major reversal of the ruling coalition's longstanding but controversial policy. The state governments will "reduce race-based affirmative action policies and begin to implement a more competitive merit based system, " according to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.  The program was started in 1971 to help ethnic Malays after violent race riots in 1969 that were blamed on the wealth gap between poor Malays and wealthy Chinese.

Carmine D.