Car or house buying cooling off measures?

Cooling off measures for car purchases also?

Key points: 

(1). Higher percentage of bankruptcies from inability to repay cars HPs than housing loans.
(2). The second largest household debt component, about RM145bil, is paid for an asset that is contracting in value every year.

WHAT are the considerations when you purchase a car?

Are the model and its functions important? Does the status symbol carry more weight? Or affordability is the main concern? Don’t get me wrong, I am not conducting a survey to change my profession. I am just curious to find out the major considerations of purchasing a car.

The topic interests me as car ownership among Malaysians, especially the young adults keep increasing. Many times, their choice of car is somewhat extravagant compared to the income they may be generating at this early stage of their careers.

This issue caught my attention when a news report last month stated that 122,169 Malaysians were declared bankrupt between 2007 and 2013, according to the Department of Insolvency. About 26% of the bankruptcies were due to the inability to settle the hire-purchase payment for vehicles, which involved 33,570 people since 2007.

When I searched further for other causes of bankruptcies, the available information for the period from 2005 to May 2010 indicated that car loans was also the chief reason for bankruptcy during that period. It was followed by 11.8% due to personal loans, 10.9% of bankruptcies due to non-repayment of business loans, and only 7.5% was caused by housing loans. Looking at the statistics, it is significant that for many years, more than one-fourth of bankruptcies in our country had been caused by car loans. It reflects on the household stress in repaying car loans, and this high default rate should trigger some thoughts among the authorities and the people.

According to Bank Negara statistics, as at April 2013, housing loans account for 57.5% of total household debts, while car loans, personal loans and credit cards account for 26.5%, 10% and 6% respectively. It means that the second-largest household debt component, about RM145bil, is paid for an asset that is contracting in value every year.

I wonder how many households are struggling to repay their car loans today, and how many of them, especially the younger generation, have deferred their financial wealth planning because of car loans? With the high percentage mentioned above and the rising household debt, there arises the question of whether cooling-off measures should also be extended to the car industry which is causing severe household stress.

Cooling-off measures for the car industry that can be considered include shorter loan period, more stringent loan-to-income ratio, and to impose certain charges if a car owner purchases additional cars in less than a certain number of years. These measures may help to reduce the number of cars on the road and discourage household spending on private vehicles. In the process, we will also be reducing traffic jams.

As shared in my previous articles titled “Reality Check on Debt Mountain” and “Good Debt, Bad Debt”, a car depreciates 10% to 20% per year based on car insurance calculation and accounting practice. In contrast, housing loans have underlying assets that are likely to appreciate over the long term.

Depreciative asset

Do we want to defer our financial planning instead and trade our opportunity of owning an appreciative asset for a depreciative asset? Perhaps, the authorities should encourage the people to borrow only for very good reasons, and to purchase assets only after thorough research.

This reminds me of an episode that I am personally aware of. It goes back to the early 1900s, when a 16-year-old migrant from China came to Malaya (now Malaysia) to seek a living, with no money in his pocket. Due to his diligence, hardwork and frugality, he was able to marry a young pretty girl ten years later and start a family and they eventually had 13 children.

What was astonishing is that he was able to send 7 of his 8 sons overseas for their tertiary education, all due to his frugality, hardwork and integrity. When he passed away, he was even able to leave behind a legacy of a bus company with over 30 buses and 4 small pieces of land in a small town.

Would this episode stimulate our young people to contemplate about what is best for their future?

Although the cooling-off measures for the car sector may be a new idea to ponder, however, with the Government’s plan to upgrade our public transport facilities and services, it is an area for consideration to increase public transport usage and encourage healthy financial planning in the long run.

After all, if senior executives in major cities like London and Tokyo are comfortable using public transportation to commute in their daily lives, can we not also do likewise (if our public transportation are improved)?

Coming back to the questions I asked in the beginning of this article... while I understand people put emphasis on different features of a car depending on their requirements and stage of life, it is always good to include the affordability aspect in a car purchase decision, so as not to be dragged down by the car which is bought to carry us forward.

P/S: The 16-year-old migrant happened to be my late father. He passed away at the age of 63 in 1962.

Contributed by Datuk Alan Tong

FIABCI Asia-Pacific regional secretariat chairman Datuk Alan Tong has over 50 years of experience in property development. He is also the group chairman of Bukit Kiara Properties. For feedback, please email feedback@fiabci-asiapacific.com. The views expressed are entirely the writer's own.

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Happy Wesak Day, Eject those who sow seeds of hatred

TODAY is an auspicious day in the Malaysian calendar as Buddhists celebrate Wesak Day. Buddhism, like all other religions, espouses peace and harmony among fellow men.

It is a way of life that is meaningful and to be cherished in any society, more so in a pluralistic environment, which is the hallmark of our beloved Malaysia.

Exactly 45 years ago this day, Malaysia as a young country, 12 years of age, experienced its most shameful and infamous day when brother rose against brother resulting in grief, sorrow, bloodshed and loss of life. The psyche of the nation was scarred and is a permanent blot in our history! Have we learnt?

Those who are currently below 45 years of age, or children at that time, will never be able to fathom the deths to which our country descended and the reasons behind it. If in 1966, US President Lyndon B. Johnson was shown rubber trees, in 1969 there was only carnage and untold suffering to show. Yet under able leadership, like a phoenix, Malaysia arose and showed so much more recently to President Barack Obama, 48 years on. We are proud of this.

Lessons were learnt on racial polarisation and the needs of the various communities. Malaysia progressed rapidly to what it is today, a nation which has surpassed most of its immediate neighbours in development.

Yet today, there are destructive forces prevailing which can bring our nation down to its knees in an instant. We have much to learn from religious precepts on tolerance and peace which will contribute to our future well-being.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said: “I think people are not learning from their past. There is no benefit in having confrontation, tension, instability. What’s the good of fighting? You kill each other but in the end what do you get?” Whatever means employed by him to keep rebel-rousers, who were out for political mileage, in check under his watch has made Malaysia what it is today.

Questions are now being raised as to what certain communities have done to merit citizenship and even referred to as trespassers. Is there a memory lapse here? Is this a rational, educated comment to make to fellow citizens borne and bred in Malaysia who are without any form of allegiance or political affection to the countries where their forefathers came from be it Indonesia, China, India, or wherever else!

All have contributed to nationbuilding in one way or the other and all save, the orang asli, are immigrants. These are undeniable facts. Let us not rewrite history based on emotion and be misled by myopic, ill-informed shamans who profess otherwise!

Perhaps this is due to ignorance and the failure of our education system in imparting history correctly. This can be easily remedied by re-education on Malaysian history. Everything needs to be rational and have limits!

All religions fully subscribe to one tenet which is non-negotiable - speak the truth!

Najib has got the correct “thinking cap” on when he says that he is the leader of all Malaysians, irrespective of race. This is the way to go for a united Malaysia. We do not need loose cannons spouting hatred and ill-will through hurtful words.

The Prime Minister has to speak louder and clearer to counter such irrational manifestations. Otherwise a heavy price will be paid in terms of our continued economic development.

The golden years of Islamic civilization, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution were all marked by periods of peace and stability

As a nation, we should not forget what it means to be on one ship paddling together in the same direction. We have to be one cohesive force. Those who sow seeds of hatred should be ejected.

We live in a country with many religions yet our conduct in certain instances is anything but religious! All religions call for the bringing together of people irrespective of race, colour or creed to live in a harmonious relationship working for the common good.

We should not be traitors to our Creator, faith and religious beliefs.

Let this Wesak Day which falls on the 45th anniversary of that fateful day, heighten our senses to what can go so terribly wrong in beautiful Malaysia.

As Malaysian citizens we all have a part to play in burning at the stake demonic forces which are threatening to tear our peace loving, tolerant and accommodative way of life apart.

Religion must keep us together and not drive us apart. In the coming years we can be greater if only we do not shoot ourselves in the foot first. Racial and religious intolerance has to be obliterated.

Happy Wesak Day!

Contributed by WALTER SANDOSAM Kuala Lumpur

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Wishing all a blessed Wesak…

ASEAN leaders stress ASEAN unity, peace, centrality, progress and the importance of China’s peaceful rise

ASEAN leaders pose for pictures during the opening ceremony of the 24th ASEAN Summit in Naypyidaw May 11, 2014.

ASEAN leaders on Sunday pledged to strengthen ASEAN unity and solidarity as well as ASEAN's central role in maintaining and promoting peace, stability, harmony and prosperity in the region.

Gathering at the 24th ASEAN Summit, which was wrapped up here Sunday, the leaders adopted the Nay Pyi Taw Declaration on Realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015 to reaffirm their commitment to the aims and purposes of ASEAN.

The leaders agreed to further enhance ASEAN cooperation in promoting democracy, good governance and rule of law, in addition to promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, so as to further enhance a rule-based community of shared values and norms, the declaration said.

They also agreed to explore the possibility for a regional framework based on the principles contained in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and in line with the Bali Principles on Mutually Beneficial Relations.

The leaders vowed to further promote peace and reconciliation in the region through relevant mechanisms and entities associated with ASEAN, and strengthen cooperation for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law.

They also pledged to work closely with nuclear weapon states on the early signing and ratification of the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone without reservations by nuclear weapon states.

Meanwhile, the leaders will seek to strengthen ASEAN centrality in the evolving regional architecture through ASEAN-led processes such as ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus, and ASEAN Regional Forum, according to the declaration.

The summit, themed Moving Forward in Unity to a Peaceful and Prosperous Community, was chaired by Myanmar President U Thein Sein. It was the first time for Myanmar to assume the ASEAN chairmanship since it joined the bloc in 1997.

Source: NAY PYI TAW, May 11 (Xinhua)

24th ASEAN summit wraps up with significant progress

Video: 24th ASEAN summit wraps up with significant progress ...

This year's ASEAN summit has wrapped up in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, reflecting the country's growing role in the regional association. ASEAN's plans for integration are moving forward under the shadow of the potentially divisive issue of the South China sea.

A celebration of a nation. The ASEAN anthem, sung in myanmar’s capital naypyidaw for the opening of the 24th ASEAN Summit. A historic moment for one of ASEAN’s youngest member, that has come a long way from a secluded country crippled with sanctions into hosting one of the most important leaders summit in the region at a very crucial point of the association’s history.

"The ASEAN community will merge in one and a half year’s time. Today, we are at a critical juncture and we need of make sure that all the necessary steps in the community building are take in a timely manner." President of Myanmar Thein Sein said.

To that end the 24th ASEAN summit has made some strides with the commitment to expedite the implementation of the blueprints for Asian community,namely through ASEAN connectivity.. which in turn will help maintain and boost ASEAN economies and reduce poverty in the region especially in a newly opened up country like Myanmar.

The recent tension between Vietnam, the Philippines, both ASEAN members and China, an important partner to ASEAN has also prompted ASEAN to call for restraint in the disputed territory and expedite the development of the Code of Conduct and show a united front that goes beyond a picture

"In regional and global context, ASEAN must continue to play a greater role with more proactive engagements with external parties. ASEAN should be contributing more towards peace and prosperity to the global community by taking collective and united responses to global issues of common concerns and interest." Sein said.

As the end of the summit brings ASEAN an inch forward to a community, serious questions are raised on its effectiveness in solving and facilitating difficult issues and that will be the biggest test yet for the association of nations.

Myanmar stresses China’s peaceful rise to regional leadership

NAY PYI TAW (dpa) – Myanmar officials highlighted the importance of China’s peaceful rise in the region on Saturday ahead of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) Summit.

Myanmar will host Sunday for the first time since it joined the 10-nation bloc in 1997.

“China is not only a big friend of Myanmar’s, but China is also the biggest trading partner of most of the Asean counties so China’s peaceful rise is very important for the Asean region,” said Ye Htut, a spokesman for President Thein Sein.

Asean Summits, held twice a year, end with declarations on regional issues such as economic integration and common security concerns. The Philippines and Vietnam are lobbying this year for a strong statement from Asean against aggression in the South China Sea.

Several countries have territorial disputes with Beijing over sovereignty claims to the sea, petroleum reserves and rights to fishing grounds.

Myanmar, as host, will play a crucial role in determining the tone of the final Asean statement on China, its northern neighbour and main foreign investor.

Asean foreign ministers met in the capital Nay Pyi Taw Saturday to discuss regional issues, including the South China Sea tensions, ahead of the summit.

Ye Htut described the Philippines’ and Vietnam’s problems with China as a matter of “bilateral relations.”

China’s policy has been to address its territorial disputes at the bilateral level, while the Philippines and Vietnam want a common Asean stance to pressure Beijing to agree to a Code of Conduct in the disputed areas.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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US support no use for Manila to bluff South China Sea claims

The US and the Philippines began a two-week military drill on Monday. This "shoulder to shoulder" exercise is widely believed to be targeted at China. Some US analysts even argue that Washington should adopt a national strategy oriented at South China Sea to stop China's "aggression" in this region. Without a correct understanding of China's South China Sea policy and the US role in this area, these analysts miscalculated the real Asia-Pacific geopolitics.

China is depicted by many Western media as a bully in South China Sea, but the reality is that most of the Nansha Islands are forcibly occupied by those supposedly "bullied," such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

We shouldn't draw a simple conclusion that China and the US will engage in a hot war if Washington gets fully involved in this area. It's too naïve a judgment, as what the Philippines and Japan are aiming at is to turn their conflicts with China into a direct confrontation between China and the US. Such change is unlikely to happen in post-Cold War international relations.

The islands disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea are a battle for national interests. They have led to a strategic game between China and the US, but its intensity is not high.

Where the game heads to relies on how the stakeholders, especially China and the US, interact with each other. Neither Manila nor Washington can manipulate the situation. China has more power to reshape the scenario.

Both China and the US are global powers, and the islands disputes constitute just a fraction of their bilateral relationship. Neither China can cherish illusions that the US will stay neutral in the South China Sea, nor the Philippines and Japan can indulge in a reverie that Washington would jeopardize its relationship with China for their petty interests.

China has more confidence than ever to face the US in the South China Sea chessboard. A growing US-China relationship benefits the US, which mandates that US doesn't allow its warships to be locked in a dangerous standoff with China.

What's more, China's actions have never really touched the nerve of the US. People with insight can see the restraint and prudence of China's South China Sea policy.

The other stakeholders in this area should cast away illusions that the US would be their "big daddy." Bilateral negotiations with China are the only way to address these disputes and to protect their own interests.

Washington's military deployment in Asia-Pacific can hardly be turned into real deterrence against China, but the US won't stop making mischief in this area. However, under the framework of a new type of major power relationship, China is gathering more experience to play the chess with the US.

Countries like the Philippines and Japan should better update their knowledge about China. Borrowing power from the US and scaring China reflects nothing but their short-sightedness.

Source:Global Times Published: 2014-5-7 0:33:01

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End the lawyers' monopoly on conveyancing in Malaysia

End the conveyancing monopoly

Lawyers set outrageous fees despite the fact that the work done does not involve additional skill.

WHEN I started my legal practice many years ago, it was quite common for lawyers to give discounts on fees chargeable for conveyancing and loan transactions. In fact, some of us charged time costs to clients because the work was quite straightforward (even if the sums involved were large).

In those days, there was already a no-discount rule. The legal fraternity then was more realistic and the Bar Council was lenient when it came to the amount of fees we could charge: no one would be liable for disciplinary action for not following scaled fees, and breaches were more frequent than observance. Those were happy days.

By and large, conveyancing and loan documentation for financial institutions are straightforward matters. They usually involve standard terms that lawyers use on a daily basis without much effort (though some lawyers might dispute this).

Conveyancing fees are what we call “easy money” – clerks do all the work and lawyers collect their fees for signing on the right pages. The higher the value of the property, or the value of the bank loan, the higher the fee.

I have never thought it right to charge high fees on this basis; after all, high-value residential property transacted in Ampang, for example, requires the same work and skill as that of lower-valued property in Klang, so why should there be a difference in fees?

The fact is that the scaled fees mandated by the Bar Council favour the lawyer who undertakes larger property transactions – but why this is so can be difficult to understand, and I suggest you read Michael Joseph’s Conveyancing Fraud, which was first published in 1989.

Joseph was an English solicitor who did his part to expose the arbitrary and unfair system by which the Law Society of England and Wales (the governing body for solicitors) set outrageous fees despite the fact that the work done had no relation to any additional skill.

Ultimately, good sense prevailed and solicitors lost their monopoly over conveyancing in England and Wales. A new breed of professionals called “conveyancers” was given the right to do this work as well and, as a result, fees were much reduced and services improved. That’s what competition does to any industry.

But not in Malaysia. Here, the Bar Council still insists that only lawyers can undertake conveyancing work and scaled fees must be strictly followed – a practice abandoned long ago in other Commonwealth countries.

When it comes to this issue, the Bar Council somehow always overlooks the question of public interest. It seems that, to the Council, it’s their members’ interests that are more important.

The economist Adam Smith warned us 250 years ago that when people of the same trade met, the conversation usually ended up in a conspiracy against the public through the raising of prices.

We now have the Competition Act 2010, which in essence seeks to promote the competitive process, and the rule of the game is to discourage anti-competitive behaviour. The stance taken by the Bar has been definitely against the Competition Act, although no one dares to challenge the lawyers’ monopoly.

The question remains: why must lawyers be the only type of professionals allowed to do conveyancing work?

A solicitor friend countered this view by saying that the Competition Act itself allows for exclusion. For example, Section 13 of the Act exempts any agreement or conduct that complies with a legislative requirement. My friend argued that the Solicitors’ Remuneration Order 2005 (which allows for scaled fees to be charged) is such a legislative requirement.

But wait a minute. I’m not saying that the Bar is in violation of the Competition Act. I’m saying merely that the Bar’s monopoly on conveyancing is not in compliance with the spirit of the Act. The Bar is once again out of touch!

The Malaysian Competition Commission, under the able leadership of former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob, should exercise its power under Sections 11 and 12 of the Competition Act to perform a “market review” of the situation and publish the results.

I am sure such a study will show the need for the establishment of a new breed of professional conveyancers so as to give lawyers some fair competition, and I’m sure the market review will benefit the public immensely.

Arguments that conveyancing work is complicated and must be done by lawyers have already been used in Australia and England, and have been found to be baseless – in fact, the quality of conveyancing services in Australia and New Zealand actually improved after the lawyers’ monopoly was broken.

In Malaysia, there are many former legal clerks and Land Office employees who can qualify and be registered as conveyancers. Of course, local conveyancers will have to be properly regulated under their own professional standards organisation to ensure that a high quality of work will be maintained.

The lawyers’ monopoly has no purpose whatsoever in this day and age. Moreover, given that the Bar Council has always fought for the political and human rights of the people, I believe it should extend this public spirit to conveyancing and other spheres, even if it means less “easy money” for lawyers.

In fact, the real test of our commitment to a particular cause is our willingness to persist even if it hits our pockets, so I say again: the public will surely benefit from an end to the conveyancing monopoly, services will improve and prices will fall. So why can’t we do it?

Contributed by by datuk zaid ibrahim The Star/Asia News Network

> Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, true to his Kelantan roots, is highly passionate about practically everything, hence the name of this column. Having established himself in the legal fraternity, Zaid ventured into politics and has been on both sides of the political divide. The former de facto Law Minister at one time is now a legal consultant but will not hesitate to say his piece on any current issue. He can be reached at zaid.ibrahim@partners-corp.com. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

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