ASEAN - National Day - Economy

The day before Singapore's National Day the PM - I think gave a rather glum vision for the next year to Singapore Inc.

Lets face it the country is a business - a good one - everyone here is a economist to some extent.

The vision was the rather than 5-6% expected growth for the year - we are looking at 5-6% - "we are in for a bumpy ride".

There were several problems talked about. One interesting one was regarding ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

Brunei
Burma
Cambodia
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam

The problem is that foreign investment is focusing on opportunities in China and India - and possibly not so much on ASEAN. No doubt the instability in the member countries is not helping. And the "global credit crunch" is also not helping.

Lets take Malaysia - the somewhat self opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is determined to take control of the country. Sodomy allegation not withstanding! Anwar has a lot of charisma - loves the buzz of a big audience - he's a character for sure. So yeh - Malaysia is a mess. Interesting that the si in Malaysia comes from the time when Singapore and Malaysia were going to join.

Indonesia - muslim nation - endless nasty crap and corruption. Constant plots to blow up tourists - reported here - but not in international media. Interesting - also note that the US has lifted travel warnings but Australia hasn't.

Burma - nasty military regime;

Perhaps ASEAN needs a little restructure! Perhaps Hong Kong's reunification with China is also tipping the balance. The breaks are definately on - the finanical miners are moving on.

I didn't realize that Chinese Taipai (as it was referred to) is actually Taiwan. Those two countries are getting cosy - can't imagine Taiwan is going to maintain any sort of independence for too much longer.

Well the Olympic games have started - a brilliant ceremony (should be for $40 mill US).

Thats it for now.........